HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man was charged with assaulting a woman known to him after hitting her car.
On Jan. 6, officers with the Guam Police Department met with a woman who reported Franklin Joseph Hartin, 39, was following her on the road the previous day before striking the rear of her vehicle, according to a magistrate’s complaint filed Sunday in the Superior Court of Guam.
The woman said that after Hartin allegedly rear-ended her, she yelled, “What the f*** is wrong with you, Franklin? And what the f*** do you want from me?” Hartin then punched her car, pushed her and yelled at her, asking why she was following him, the complaint stated.
After the woman replied Hartin was following her, “Hartin continued to yell at her, calling her a ‘b****,’ and then punched her on the left side of her face,” the complaint stated.
The woman subsequently got back into her vehicle and locked her doors before Hartin drove off.
Officers observed redness on the woman’s left cheek and that her car’s trunk was slightly damaged, the rear left side of the bumper was damaged and slightly hanging off, and there was a dent on the left rear passenger side of the vehicle.
Jan. 12
Almost a week later, around 11:51 a.m. Jan. 12, Hartin was in police custody and awaiting transport on another matter when he was advised of his rights and interviewed about the woman’s complaint.
According to the complaint, Hartin denied the allegations and said he had been driving into the driveway of a friend’s house, attempted to brake, but the brakes weren’t working and that led to him to rear-end the woman’s vehicle.
Hartin allegedly said he tried to apologize to her and handle it civilly, but the woman refused and started to yell at him. Hartin also denied punching or threatening the woman, the complaint stated.
Before Hartin was in police custody, the woman alerted GPD about 5:35 a.m. to a criminal mischief complaint involving Hartin at a Dededo residence. Upon arrival, officers saw a truck driving into the backyard of the residence. The woman was present at the residence and was seen crying and pacing back and forth in the front of the residence.
The complaint stated the woman did not feel comfortable being interviewed at the location, so she went with officers to the Dededo Precinct. There she told police Hartin was outside her residence about 5 a.m. and had left after speaking with his mother, who showed up to the residence.
“A few minutes later, Hartin returned back to the residence in a silver Nissan Frontier and drove straight into the (woman’s) vehicle. Hartin was yelling, ‘I am going to kill you!’ (and) ‘You are f****** with my mind!'” the complaint stated.
The woman told police Hartin then reversed the car and drove it to the back of the residence before fleeing on foot as police were arriving. During the interview, the woman was nervous, shaking and repeating that she was scared Hartin would harm her and her family.
“She stated that Hartin is like this because he is not getting his way with her,” the complaint stated.
The woman later called officers at 11:40 a.m. and stated Hartin was behind her residence and will run if police came. Upon the officers’ arrival, they found Hartin behind the residence, yelling and refusing to comply with their request to show his hands and to exit a wood-and-tin structure.
According to the complaint, Hartin eventually complied after several requests to exit. While he was being arrested, he started yelling and cursing and asking if it was the woman and said she was lying.
In another interview, Hartin admitted to telling the woman he would kill her, but said “that he did not mean it and only said it out of anger” because the woman allegedly harassed Hartin’s daughter. Hartin further said he should have reported the matter, but acted out of fear and anger.
According to the complaint, Hartin denied the allegations, claiming the woman had been obsessed with him.
Hartin was charged with aggravated assault as a third-degree felony, two counts each of criminal mischief and simple stalking as third-degree felonies, and two counts of family violence as misdemeanors.
Franklin Hartin
