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May 7, 2012

Jeffersonville fight ends in arrest

David J. Firkin, 50, faces a class C felony battery charge

By TARA SCHMELZ tara.schmelz@newsandtribune.com

JEFFERSONVILLE — A 50-year-old man is facing a battery charge after a fight involving a knife and a baseball bat.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, David Joe Firkin went to Michael Riley’s home on Hall Corner Road, in Jeffersonville, and refused to leave. Riley told police he went inside and got a baseball bat after Firkin confronted him about something he said about Firkin. Riley said he came back out with the bat and told Firkin to leave.

He said Firkin refused, then pulled out a knife and swung it at him. Riley said he then swung the bat, hitting Firkin, but dropped the bat after he got cut by the knife. According to the police narrative, Riley had a cut on his hand and a small cut and large knot on his face.

Firkin later told police he went to Riley’s home to tell him to stay away from his home, because Riley was scaring his wife. Firkin initially told police his bloody shirt from the fight was in the laundry room, but it was found kicked under the bed. The investigator found the knife in a locked safe in the laundry room. The officer questioned Firkin why there was no blood on it. Firkin told police that he wiped it off, because he had been scared.

Firkin has been charged with battery, a class C felony. If convicted, he faces two to eight years in prison.

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