By Pat Culverhouse

A 39-year-old Minden man has been charged with beating his girlfriend of 16 years when he allegedly became enraged because she was not with their son at the hospital while he was otherwise engaged.

Chief of Police Jared McIver said Billy Scott Fowler, a resident of the 100 block of Emerald Dr., is being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center on a charge of domestic abuse with strangulation. He was arrested Wednesday at his apartment. No bond reportedly has been set.

Minden officers learned Fowler began to beat the victim when he learned she was not at the hospital where their son was in intensive care with a leg injury. Officers were told he first struck her in the face with a head butt, then struck her in the mouth and ribs with a closed fist.

After striking the victim, Fowler allegedly put her in a choke hold and shoved her face into a mattress. Officers reportedly observed bruising and slight swelling on the victim’s left eye, a bloodied lip, discoloration on her left rib cage and upper arm and drag marks on her shins and legs.

Fowler allegedly had not been at home earlier, and officers learned he was reportedly with a “side chick” and was playing with her kids.

Officers reported Fowler was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.