Local and state law enforcement authorities responded to a fight call between two men at a residence on the Warrenton Highway just outside the city limits of Thomson last Wednesday. One of the men subsequently was taken into custody.
One of the men involved, 26-year-old Christopher Joel Brooks, of the 100 block of Forrest Clary Drive, Thomson, said his uncle, Steven Lynn Brooks, 41, of the 1500 block of Oakwood Drive, Thomson, was responsible for the physical altercation, according to a report filed by McDuffie County Sheriff's Department Deputy Barry Whitfield.
Christopher Brooks, whose mouth was injured, was treated at the scene by personnel with McDuffie County Emergency Medical Services.
Steven Brooks was arrested the next day and charged with one count of battery, according to a report by McDuffie County Sheriff's Department Investigator Larry Adaway. He was taken to the McDuffie County Law Enforcement Center in Thomson where he has since been released on bond.
The victim told Deputy Whitfield that his uncle had followed him from the intersection of Gordon Street and Harrison Road to the Warrenton Highway residence where the assault occurred about noon. Mr. Brooks accused his uncle of driving into the yard of his in-laws and striking him in the face and about his head. The victim said his uncle also took his car keys.
Before the fight, Christopher Brooks said Steven Brooks demanded that he drop a Temporary Protective Order, which had been signed by a local judge earlier that day.
Deputy Leonard Neal, who came to the scene, ended up serving Steven Brooks the protective order.
The elder Mr. Brooks told authorities that his nephew had been taunting him for several days and that he races his engine every time they see one another passing in the roadway. Steven Brooks said Christopher Brooks owes him $250 for the car he rides in and refuses to pay him, Deputy Whitfield said in his report.
Two days earlier on Nov. 2, Christopher Brooks went to the law enforcement center and filed a report with Deputy Mike Coke regarding reckless conduct by his uncle.
The younger Mr. Brooks said he was traveling west on Telephone Street in his 1993 Honda Civic with his wife and three children when a white Ford pickup truck came up from behind and struck his car's left front bumper. He identified the driver of the truck as his uncle, records show.
Christopher Brooks said Steven Brooks had been after him to beat him up and had threatened bodily harm toward him several times.
