A Mountain City man was bound over to a grand jury on a felony assault charge following a hearing in court on Tuesday.
Ronnie Curd, 45, of 422 D. Curd Lane, Mountain City, appeared in Carter County General Sessions Court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing on a charge of aggravated assault.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Keith Bowers ruled there was enough probable cause for prosecution in the case to proceed and bound Curd over to a Carter County Grand Jury, which will decide whether or not to file an indictment in the case. Curd is scheduled to make his first appearance in Carter County Criminal Court on Sept. 15.
The charge against Curd stems from an investigation that began on March 21 when Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an assault at Hayworth Tire, located at 4074 Highway 19E in the Valley Forge community.
Witnesses at the scene told officers that a man, who was later identified as Curd, walked into the tire changing area at the business and asked for “Tim.”
Eddie Whitaker, an employee, said he pointed to Timothy Mains, who was working at a tire mounting machine.
“Curd walked directly up to Mains, whose concentration was on the tire machine, and struck him with his right fist in the face, which fractured his upper pallet below his nose,” said CCSO Investigator Harmon Duncan. “Mains later had to have reconstructive surgery for this injury.”
Witnesses told police after Curd struck Mains, they were able to grab him and pull him away from Mains before letting him go.
“Upon his release, Curd picked up a tire rim, charged Mains again, and attempted to strike Mains with the tire rim while Mains was bent over bleeding,” Duncan said.
Employees once again restrained Curd, this time taking him to the ground, Duncan said. The witnesses reported that after being tackled, Curd got up and “calmly walked” to his truck and left.
Mains told officers who responded to the scene that he did not know the man who had assaulted him and he had no idea what prompted Curd’s actions.
The following day, employees reported to police that a man called Hayworth Tires and said he was the one who had assaulted Mains. The man told the employee who answered the phone that Mains was dating his ex-girlfriend and the attack concerned a child who was living with the ex-girlfriend.
“The caller inquired about the condition of Mains and stated he regretted his actions,” Duncan said. “Whatever story behind this event may be, the aggravated assault by Ronnie Curd is clearly unprovoked at the time of occurrence.”