Report: Wife in screwdriver attack cussed, tangled with Bibb cops

A shirtless young man was standing at his front door, bleeding from his arm and left ear, when Bibb County sheriff's deputies showed up.

He said his wife had stabbed him in the ear with what authorities later learned was a screwdriver.

The wounded man, 21-year-old Michael Bridges, had been in Building 26 at the Tindall Heights housing project on Plant Street in Macon Saturday afternoon when he and his wife began arguing about money, deputies said.

A sheriff's report released Monday offered a more detailed account of the clash, which landed Bridge's wife, Ieshia Zanquay Etheridge, 21, in the county jail on an aggravated assault charge.

Bridges' injuries were not life-threatening.

Deputies weren't sure where Etheridge was when they got to the apartment, which sits east of Interstate 75 below the Mercer University campus, about 1 p.m. Saturday.

There was blood on the floor and strewn clothes littered the living room.

Before long, Etheridge walked in the back door, the sheriff's report noted. The deputies ordered her to show them her hands and to get on the floor, but she refused.

Two deputies "fought Ieshia to the kitchen floor" and handcuffed her, the report went on, adding:

"While walking Ieshia through the living room to (a patrol car), Ieshia tried to make contact with her husband Michael. Ieshia launched at Michael, he stood up and moved backwards and in an attempt to control Ieshia, (one deputy) pulled Ieshia away from Michael."

Etheridge, who is 5-foot-4 and 210 pounds, was then said to have "shifted her weight," toppling the deputies.

After she was locked in one deputy's cruiser, Etheridge "continued to threaten" the deputies, calling them "nasty (expletives)" and saying she was "going to beat our ass," the report said.

On the ride to the county's investigative bureau, the report noted that Etheridge became increasingly irate.

"She was beating her head against my vehicle bars and her knees on the back of the passenger seat," the deputy's report said. "Ieshia threatened to spit in my face and beat my ass again."

Etheridge was being held Monday at the county jail in lieu of $11,200 bail.

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:09 PM.