When flowers fail, try threats

A Commerce man who first brought his estranged wife flowers, then tried to kick her front door in and finally threatened to kill her wound up in the Jackson County Jail for the night, according to a Commerce Police Department arrest report.

Patrick Todd Streetman, 29, 373 Shankle Heights, Commerce, faces charges of criminal trespass and simple assault under the Family Violence Act.

According to the arrest report, officers were called to a Crossing Place Apartment, Steve Reynolds Industrial Boulevard, to a report of a domestic dispute. The first officer to arrive noticed a glass vase broken by the front door.

He spoke to the victim, a 30-year-old white female, who explained that Streetman, from whom she is in the process of getting a divorce, came by her apartment and left a vase of flowers by the front door. Later that evening, she heard the doorbell ring and, seeing it was Streetman, did not answer it, she told the police. But he kept ringing the doorbell, then called her on her phone, so she answered. She said he told her he wanted to see the children, but she replied that she had company and told him to leave.

That, the victim said, led to banging on the door and cursing. A 30-year-old white male in the residence assisted her, holding the door against Streetman, who eventually kicked the door and broke the doorknob off, the report said. When the two told Streetman they were calling 911, the victim said Streetman left, but not before advising them that he “had a bullet for each of their heads” and that “she would pay for this.” The suspect also allegedly asked her if she preferred to be buried or cremated.

Police went to the man’s residence, where he admitted to dropping off the flowers and admitted breaking the vase, but denied banging or kicking on the door — a position he changed when police told him they had a boot print on the door. Streetman also denied making the threats and alleged that the man in the apartment is a registered sex offender, which he said was one of the reasons he was upset.

The officer later checked and determined that the man in the apartment is not a registered sex offender, the report said.