Opinion ID: 2630419
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: underlying incident

Text: The genesis for these proceedings was an incident at or near McCracken's residence during which he confronted Gerry Parker, Danielle Carothers, and Wendy Lane. McCracken was acquainted with Carothers and Parker, who had been at McCracken's house in the past. McCracken's version of events starts while he was at his father's home and Carothers called his cell phone to inquire whether McCracken was home. When he responded in the affirmative, Carothers said, No you're not, laughed, and hung up. About an hour later, McCracken drove the 5 to 6 miles from his father's home to his rural residence, concerned about a possible burglary at his house, given that his property had previously been burglarized. Upon arrival, McCracken found Parker's vehicle parked in his driveway on the outside of a closed, chained, and locked gate blocking further access to the residence. McCracken pulled past the driveway and parked on the side of the road. He discovered the parked vehicle was unoccupied, and no one was in the vicinity. Subsequently, McCracken noticed Parker carrying a flashlight between the locked gate and the residence. McCracken testified that a confrontation ensued, during which Parker jumped on the vehicle parked in the driveway, hit or kicked McCracken on the left side of the face, pulled a knife, and threatened to kill McCracken. When the two women arrived at the gate, Parker hid the knife from their view. One of the women was carrying a large purse and a small duffle-size bag which McCracken believed contained items taken from his residence. McCracken returned to his vehicle and drove across the road to a neighbor's drive, while the three others got into Parker's vehicle. However, when the Parker vehicle, which was blocking McCracken's access to his residence, failed to leave, McCracken used his vehicle to push Parker's vehicle into the ditch as a protective measure. Parker and the two women described a different scenario to law enforcement. They said that McCracken had invited them to his house. When they arrived, they climbed the gate to walk to the house and called McCracken on his cell phone. By the time the group walked back to the gate, McCracken was present. He became very angry and yelled at them for jumping over the gate. However, they denied that there had been any physical altercation or that Parker had displayed a knife. They said that when everyone returned to their respective vehicles, McCracken's vehicle was blocking the driveway, preventing the Parker vehicle from leaving. McCracken then backed his vehicle into the Parker vehicle.