UKIAH – A local couple visiting a friend’s house Friday night, June 13, reportedly got into an argument, which led to an assault on the 23-year-old woman, and her boyfriend arrested early Saturday morning.
At 3:30 am, an anonymous call came into the sheriff’s office on reports of a man chasing a woman near Talmage Road and Babcock Lane. According to a department press releae, responding deputies found the woman at a business near that corner, presumably the Arco AM/PM Mini Mart. Deputies reported the she was very upset, and had visible abrasions on her lower legs, arms and neck. She reported to them that her boyfriend, 34-year-old Randy McCormick-Blake, had assaulted her.
She told them that she and McCormick had been at a friend’s house the night before, and that they began arguing. As the dispute escalated, she said she left the house, walking to the Talmage Bridge over the Russian River to get away from him and sleep the rest of the night. She said that her sleep was interrupted when her boyfriend grabbed her by the neck. She said he choked her and slammed her head into the ground several times. She lost consciousness due to his assault.
Randy Allen McCormick-Blake is listed as a transient in the Ukiah area, and may have been living under or near the Talmage Bridge, which in the past has been a popular spot for the transient population. Ukiah citizens have noted in the past few years that the number of transients in their area greatly increases during the summer marijuana harvesting season. Complaints have been made that the more recent homeless camps on the river were becoming more destructive and menacing, compared to the relatively peaceful camps of years past.
The corner of Talmage and Babcock, where the victim found help.
Though unidentified in the reports, McCormick’s 23-year-old victim may have also been a transient staying with him at the bridge site, based on her fleeing to that location after her initial dispute with him.
Once she regained consciousness after his first assault, the victim reported to deputies that she left McCormick and began walking along Talmage Road towards the Hastings/Babcock intersection where the 24-hour Arco station is. She saw, however, that McCormick was soon after her, running towards her as she walked. He caught up with her, and she said he pulled her to the ground and tried to drag her into the vineyards off the main road. She was able to free herself and run. The anonymous witness, perhaps at the gas station, called the Sheriff’s office, and McCormick fled.
The responding deputies took the victim’s statements, and arranged for her to be taken to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries. McCormick-Blake, meanwhile, had returned to the bridge, where deputies soon found him sleeping. He was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail for felony domestic battery, with bail set at $25,000.00.
