The incident was first reported by Deseret News after the man, identified as 61-year-old Douglas Harold Green, was charged on Monday in the 4th District Court in Wasatch County. The charges filed against Green include a third-degree felony count of aggravated kidnapping to commit unlawful detention and an assault charge, the paper reported.
A police affidavit from the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office obtained by Deseret News said Green and his wife were at the Provo River Resort when the incident occurred. The resort is located along the Provo River and south of the Deer Creek Reservoir in Wasatch County.
“The victim claimed she and Douglas were arguing over dinner arrangements,” the affidavit said. When the woman “refused to do what he asked,” Douglas grew angry and “threatened to drown her in the river,” it said.
Green then began pulling his wife toward the edge of the riverbank and resort employees told sheriff’s deputies they then saw him throw her in, according to the affidavit. The woman had bruises on her arms when deputies arrived that she said were from the altercation, the report said.
Bystanders who watched the incident unfold told deputies they tried to help her, but Green insisted that they keep a distance. “Douglas yelled at them to stay away,” the report said.
After deputies arrived, they arrested Green and took him to Wasatch County Jail, which is located about 12 miles away from the resort.
Details regarding what led up to the argument or what the alleged dinner dispute between Green and his wife involved were unclear. Newsweek reached out to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, about 12 million people every year experience some kind of violence perpetrated by their partner, and about 15 percent of all women and 10 percent of all men in the U.S. have been injured due to these violent acts at some point in their life. More than 40 percent of adult homicides over the last 20 years in Utah alone were connected to domestic violence incidents, according to statistics compiled by the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition.
As the coronavirus pandemic triggered economic closures around the world, the United Nations cautioned about the “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence that could occur as families were unable to leave home as often as they did before the crisis. In states like Utah, local leaders encouraged those at risk of experiencing domestic violence during the pandemic to establish a connection with their county health officials and identify the resources that would help them best.
