A 47-year-old local man was recently arrested after authorities say he broke down the front door of a local woman’s home while wielding a hammer because a voice in his head told him she was in trouble.
David Dean Haggard, 47, of Pocatello, has been charged with aggravated assault and malicious injury to property, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor unlawful entry following the incident, which unfolded around 7:15 a.m. on July 25 in Lava Hot Springs, according to a Bannock County Sheriff’s Office incident report the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.
A Bannock County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a home in Lava Hot Springs for the report of a man, later identified as Haggard, breaking down a neighbor’s front door, authorities said.
While en route, dispatch advised the deputy that Haggard had fled the home he had broken into and retreated to a home across the street, the report says.
Upon arrival, officers came into contact with a man that was not involved in the incident but was on the phone with 911 requesting an ambulance for Haggard who was reportedly having a heart attack, deputies said.
Upon arrival, officers located Haggard on the floor clutching his chest screaming that he thought his heart was going to explode. Haggard was subsequently taken via ambulance to a local hospital, the report says.
The deputy then interviewed the woman whose home Haggard was forcing entry into, during which she described a situation where she and her mother and two young boys were all in the home sleeping, according to the report.
The woman awoke to some loud banging sounds and initially believed that it was her two young children who were being noisy but then she heard her mother yell that she could see that a man was trying to break down the front door, the report says.
The woman then grabbed a firearm and went to the front door at the same time that Haggard and forced his way inside while wielding a hammer, the deputy said.
The woman pointed the gun at Haggard and demanded that he leave the residence, the report said. Haggard was reluctant but eventually left the home, the report says.
Before being taken to the hospital, Haggard told officers that he broke into the woman’s home because he heard a voice inside his head that he believed was the woman’s father who was telling him that she was in trouble and needed saving, according to the report.
The woman told officers that Haggard caused $1,400 in damages to the door, frame and locking system of her front door, the report says.
Haggard would later tell officers that he would use Adderall frequently, sometimes as many as six 20 milligram pills per day, according to the report.
Haggard was charged and arrested after he was released from the hospital later in the day on July 25.
He appeared in front of 6th District Magistrate Judge Carol Tippi Jarman for an arraignment hearing on July 26, where his bond was set at $40,000.
He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 6, during which prosecutors will attempt to prove there is enough evidence against him to elevate the case from the magistrate to district court level for trial.
If convicted of the two felony charges, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000.
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