Dwight Alder Frank Douglass said a dispute that led to his arrest began with him trying to stop his wife from buying drugs.
Police arrested Douglass at his Elm Street home around 3:15 a.m. Thursday and charged him with second-degree breach of peace under a state family violence statute.
Douglass had shoved his wife during an argument about whether she would go out to buy drugs, he said.
He said he has struggled with how best to help his wife without enabling her addiction — because he has walked the same road.
“It’s hard when family members are struggling. I myself am in recovery. It’s a question of enabling. I try to support her the best way I can,” Douglass told the Independent.
“Last night took its toll; I was trying to protect her from hurting herself.”
Douglass appeared in court Thursday for arraignment and then was released.
Douglass’s wife approached Officer Jeffrey King at the Dwight police substation at 2:41 a.m. to report a domestic dispute.
“She was shaking and crying uncontrollably. She told me she was scared to go back home, that she felt unsafe,” King wrote in a subsequent incident report.
She told King that “she was home and Francis came home and started arguing with her. … Francis got in her face and he pushed [her] on to the floor. After, Francis took her keys and her cell phone.”
King wrote that he drove to the Elm Street home with the complainant, who “informed me that she smoked crack earlier in the day.”
At the house, King wrote, Douglass told him that “they had an argument because he was trying to prevent her from leaving the house to get drugs … [His wife] was locked in the bathroom for hours and when he went in the bathroom he noticed [she] was trying to meet up with someone to get drugs.
“Francis took her phone and tried to prevent her from leaving the house. While trying to prevent her from leaving he admitted to pushing her on the ground. He said it was a mistake, that he didn’t mean to push her.”
King wrote that the wife, who declined medical attention, told him that Douglass had “pushed her prior to looking at her phone messages because he was accusing her of cheating.”
The officer’s report notes that neither person has court orders or active warrants. The officer concluded that Douglass had been “the dominant aggressor.”
He said he has struggled with how best to help his wife without enabling her addiction — because he has walked the same road."It's hard when family members are struggling. I myself am in recovery. It's a question of enabling. I try to support her the best way I can," Douglass told the Independent.
"Last night took its toll; I was trying to protect her from hurting herself."
What he says is true.I have had friends and family on Drugs.It is no joke.A friend of mine father left Him and His sister 300,000 dollars each when he passed away.by the time my friend got into drug treatment program.He had left of the money 90,000 dollars.My sister got him into a drug program call Phoenix House.They have been around Since 1967.The only Douglass can help his wife is she has to be put into in house drug treatment where you have to stay.This is the only way he can help her.
Phoenix House New York
https://www.phoenixhouse.org/locations/new-york/
And the take most insurance?