Eric Geren, 31 / Bradley County Sheriff's OfficeA Bradley County sheriff's deputy was arrested by Cleveland, Tennessee, police Friday on a domestic assault charge.
Cleveland police were called to a home not far from the city's downtown area at around 1:30 a.m. There, they spoke to a woman who said the deputy, Eric Geren, had just left after pushing her down on a couch and punching a hole in her wall.
Bradley County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Taylor Woodruff said Geren, 31, has been suspended without pay and is under internal investigation while the Cleveland Police Department conducts its investigation into the incident that led to his arrest.
"We greatly appreciate [Cleveland police] for working so closely with us on this," Woodruff said.
According to Bradley County court documents, Geren was supposed to be at the woman's house earlier that evening but had been out playing pool.
By about 1:15 a.m., Geren arrived at her home on his motorcycle and began banging on her back door, the woman told police.
He "seemed extremely angry and began yelling and cursing at her," court documents state. And he started to "sling items off the coffee table" when she asked him to leave.
The woman told police she then stood up and again asked him to leave. That is when "he shoved her back down to the couch which caused red bruises around her chest," court records state.
She then told him she would call the police, to which "he told her he was the cops," according to court documents.
After taking the woman's statement, Cleveland police officers then reached Geren via phone.
He told officers that he had been out the night before but that it was the woman who had been yelling. And when he arrived at her house at around 1:15 a.m., it was she who "greeted him with arguing and yelling."
Geren told police that he did not go inside the home and had attempted to calm the woman down before heading back to his apartment "before it escalated any further," according to court documents.
He denied pushing the woman and alleged that her injuries were self-inflicted, as he "would not put it past her," court records state.
Under Tennessee law, police must arrest a person accused of domestic assault "unless there is a clear and compelling reason not to arrest."
Geren was booked into the Bradley County Jail and later released on a $500 bond.
Contact Rosana Hughes at 423-757-6327, rhughes@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.