A Bristol man is behind bars today after brutally attacking the boyfriend of the woman he is separated from with a bat at a Bensalem apartment complex last weekend.
Bensalem Township police responded to an apartment in the Bensalem Commons Apartment Complex located at 944 Station Ave. for an aggravated assault in progress report last Saturday night at 10:08 p.m.
Bucks County Radio said the complainant said her husband attacked and repeatedly struck her boyfriend with a baseball bat, police stated in court papers.
When police arrived, they observed the boyfriend walking down the second floor steps. He told police that James Keaton had just beaten him with a baseball bat, police recorded in court documents and this was causing him to stagger and appear disoriented.
Officers took photographs of the boyfriend’s head and legs injuries, according to court records.
Keaton, police said, then appeared at the top of the stairs on the landing holding the top half of a broken wooden baseball bat. He had blood on his sweatshirt. He was ordered to drop the bat. He was out of breath and sweating. He had minor scrapes on his hands and knuckles according to the probable cause.
Keaton told responding officers his wife had cheated on him with multiple men. He stated he entered the apartment with his own keys. He located the victim in the apartment, and it turned into a fight. Keaton admitted to striking him with a bat during the fight, according to the criminal complaint.
The wife confirmed to police that Keaton entered her apartment. She told police that she split from Keaton in April. She said Keaton opened the front door and located her boyfriend in the apartment and beat the victim with a wooden baseball bat.
She said, according to police, Keaton continued to beat the victim with the bat while he was on the ground and prone.
The victim was transported to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Magisterial District Judge Michael W. Petrucci arraigned Keaton, 52 on one count of aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and possession of a instrument of crime plus related offenses and confined him to Bucks County Correctional Facility as he could not post 10 percent of $100,000.00 bail. Keaton is scheduled for a Nov. 19 court date to answer the charges.
