NEW CASTLE —
A Shenango Township man is in custody for allegedly beating a woman in the head with a baseball bat.
New Castle police have arrested Donald C. Cleaver, 34, of 3525 Old Pittsburgh Road in connection with the incident that left 20-year-old Victoria Grace Pappas-Pappakostas with severe head injuries.
She is hospitalized in the surgical Intensive Care Unit of St. Elizabeth Health Center with a brain bleed, according to police reports.
Cleaver is being held in the Lawrence County jail in lieu of $200,000 bond, set yesterday by District Judge Scott McGrath.
Police were called to the apartment of Pappas-Pappakostas at McGrath Manor on the city’s West Side around 1 a.m. Sunday where they found Pappas-Pappakostas lying on the kitchen floor bleeding profusely from the head with a bloody baseball bat nearby.
A witness who lives with her told police that Pappas-Pappakostas arrived home from a bar with Cleaver, and she asked him to leave. She then tried to force him to leave her apartment and he became violent, the witness said.
Pappas-Pappakostas in self-defense got a baseball bat to defend herself, the witness continued, and Cleaver took it from her and hit her in the midsection and in the face. He also punched her in the face and knocked her down, and she hit her face on the kitchen counter, the witness told police.
A neighbor found Cleaver’s identification card in the hallway.
Pappas-Pappakostas was taken to Jameson Hospital by ambulance, then flown by helicopter to Youngstown.
Police said they arrested Cleaver without incident at his home Sunday night, with help from the Shenango Township police.
He is charged with criminal attempt at homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of simple assault and one count each of terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person.
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