An Ignacio man is suspected of running over his girlfriend after an argument Friday morning in Bayfield.
Case Fields, 31, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault, false imprisonment and domestic violence. He was being held Monday in the La Plata County Jail without bail.
It is Fields' second run-in with the law for domestic violence. In 2011, he was sentenced to six years in prison for choking a woman and later bragging that he almost snapped her neck.
According to an arrest affidavit, Fields was driving with Janelle Bilyeu, 43, his girlfriend of seven years, when they began arguing about money.
Fields began driving erratically. He was speeding, swerving all over the road and slammed his head into the steering wheel of his Chevy Silverado, the woman told the Bayfield Marshal's Office.
His girlfriend asked him to stop the truck and let her out, but Fields replied by saying, "If you want out, you better jump (expletive)!" the affidavit says.
The erratic behavior continued for 20 miles before Fields pulled onto a parking spot in downtown Bayfield and jerked the vehicle to a stop in the 100 block of Mill Street.
They continued to argue for about one minute, and as the woman tried to exit the truck, Fields put the vehicle in reverse and ran over her leg with the right front tire, the affidavit says.
The woman broke her leg and had to have surgery to set the bone, according to the affidavit. She also hit her head and injured her right elbow.
Fields gave a different version of events: He said he was under the impression they were going to return to his house, so he put the truck in reverse, looked over his left shoulder to back up, and didn't realize his girlfriend had opened the door to exit the vehicle until he felt the "bump" of the tire roll over the top of her leg.
Deputies said skid marks at the scene suggested abrupt turning maneuvers and reckless driving.
The Bayfield Marshal's Office did not return a phone call Monday seeking additional information.
Fields was arrested Jan. 19, 2011, in front of a restaurant in Durango for choking a woman. During a sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented a videophone recording from the jail in which Fields brags to his father about nearly snapping her neck and resisting urges to kick her in the stomach and kill her.
His public defense lawyer at the time, Justin Bogan, said Fields endured child abuse, and his father came from a background that condoned abusing women. He said Fields was seeking approval from his father.
Inmates typically serve about 70 percent of their prison sentence before becoming eligible for parole in the state of Colorado. A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections did not return a phone call Monday seeking information about when Fields was released from prison.
shane@durangoherald.com
