SLAUGHTER — A Slaughter police officer and his wife, who works for the district attorney’s office, were both arrested Friday after a fight at their home on Thursday.
David Nelson, a full-time police officer and part-time Jackson marshal, and Shelby Nelson, the traffic coordinator for the district attorney’s office in the 20th Judicial District, were both booked Friday with misdemeanor domestic abuse battery. They were later released.
David Nelson went to the parish jail at 8 a.m. Friday to report the fight. He provided a video recorded by his son without his mother’s knowledge that showed part of an alleged fight, arresting documents said.
David Nelson said Shelby Nelson came home from work in a bad mood and during an argument “began swinging, hitting and strangling him while sitting on the couch,” records show.
He said he told his son to call police, but that his wife said he should not call, officials say in their reports.
David Nelson gave deputies the cell phone video his son recorded.
“Shelby is seen standing, bent over, only inches from David’s face screaming at him. Shelby repeatedly slaps David with both hands, then punches him in the face with a closed right fist, also spitting at his facial area, and grabbing him around the neck area leaving visible markings,” arrest affidavits said.
Investigators contacted Shelby Nelson at work and asked her to come to the sheriff’s office to discuss what happened.
She said the video did not tell the whole story.
“She began telling me that before she left the residence that morning, she asked David not to be at the house when she returned. David told her that he was not going to leave,” affidavits said. The couple is getting divorced, documents said.
She said that after she got in his face, he shoved her and then “grabbed her and pinned her to the counter while choking her,” affidavits said.
She told investigators she nearly lost consciousness.
She also told investigators that physical abuse had been happening at the home for some time. She said she did not report it because she didn’t want to cause problems for her husband at work.
Arrest affidavits said some of the past abuse claims have been forwarded to detectives for further investigation.
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