Dora man charged with domestic assault, admits to punching woman

Brian Clonan, 49, of Dora, was granted supervised bond release before Associate Judge Raymond Gross Dec. 12 in a case in which he’s charged with felony-level domestic assault. He is ordered to return to court for a criminal setting at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 9. 

The probable cause statement, prepared by OCSD Deputy Moss, at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 7, he received a phone call from a Howell County deputy who conveyed a reported assault of a woman by Clonan. The HCSD deputy gave Moss contact information for the woman and home address, along with photos they’d taken of head injuries that she said were a result of an assault by Clonan. 

“From these photos, I could see [the victim] had dried blood on her scalp and face and bruising on her arms and lips. She also had red marks on her neck and upper chest red marks on her neck and upper chest…” the report says. 

In the course of another investigation prompted by the Division of Family Services at the home in regards to an injury to a child reported by a school employee, the officer visited the home. 

The report says that the allegations were that Clonan began a verbal argument that escalated with Clonan balling up his fist and shaking it at the woman in an apparent threat that he would hit her. He then reportedly picked the woman up by the neck and slammed her into a bed, hit her with an open hand in the head and neck, cornered her in a closet and began yelling, then hit her in the mouth. The woman then said she hit him in the head with an open hand and told him to get away from her.

She said he then threatened to kill her and threw her on the ground. After she hit him again, he used a closed fist to hit her in the top of her head, she said, causing her to bleed and become dizzy. 

Once she began bleeding, Clonan immediately began cleaning up the blood, the report says. The woman said she left the house and went to the Howell County Sheriff’s Department. 

When the officers went to the residence and spoke with Clonan he reportedly told them that he’d been arguing with the woman that morning when she slapped him in the side of the head twice. He said he then hit her over the head with a closed fist to defend himself, he reportedly said. The report says he also made a spontaneous statement about pulling a child backward by the hood of their sweatshirt as the child was attempting to run away from him. 

He was released on an OR bond with the conditions that he follow a safety plan presented by the Division of Family Services and not interfere with the Child Advocacy Center interview. He was also ordered not to have contact with the woman through Dec. 15 and then have no adverse contact after that date.