Blackfoot man charged after allegedly punching a pregnant woman several times in the stomach

IDAHO FALLS – A Blackfoot man has been charged after he allegedly choked and repeatedly punched a pregnant woman in the belly numerous times during a domestic violence incident.

Ruben Hernandez, 34, was charged with the following felonies: robbery, grand theft, domestic battery with traumatic injury, aggravated battery causing harm to a pregnant female or fetus and attempted strangulation.

If he is found guilty, he could face up to 51.5 years in prison.

According to the court documents, an officer with the Idaho Falls Police Department was dispatched to the residence in Idaho Falls at around 3:30 a.m. on March 4.

The dispatcher told the officer a woman had called in and reported that Hernandez had stolen her vehicle, debit card, had assaulted her and punched her numerous times in her pregnant belly. The dispatcher says the woman was 33 weeks into her pregnancy.

The woman also told dispatch that “she believed her water to have broken” but had refused an ambulance. The officer informed dispatch that an ambulance should respond due to the injuries she described.

When the officer arrived at the residence, the woman exited the home and made her way to the patrol car. The officer reported that even in the dark, the woman’s face appeared swollen.

Using a flashlight, the officer saw the injuries more clearly and noted that the woman’s jaw was slanted to the left and, appeared crooked and had red marks on her right and left cheeks.

The officer reported the woman was only wearing a T-shirt. Upon quick observation, scratch marks were found on her upper chest.

The woman was asked about what had happened, and she had informed the officer she was in Idaho Falls to pick up Hernandez from a friend’s house as he was there “gaming.”

After she picked him up and began to make their way home, Hernandez was in the passenger seat when he told the woman to take him somewhere else, but she refused.

This caused him to get upset, and, according to the woman, he proceeded to slap her and squeeze her face.

The woman said this upset her, so she ordered the man out of the car, and he did.

The woman left Hernandez on the street and made her way to a convenience store near Holmes Avenue and 17th Street when she received a call from Hernandez to pick him up at a mutual friend’s house.

When the woman arrived at the home, she parked outside and saw Hernandez walk up to the car, but opened the driver’s door. After this, the woman told the officer, he punched her and told her to get out.

During this scuffle, the woman said Hernandez used one hand to choke her but could still breathe. During this, the man had also attempted to break the woman’s left arm by bending it backward against the door frame.

The woman said while he tried to strangle her, he told her he would “(expletive) kill” her if she did not get out of the car.

The document states that the car was a manual, and the woman was unable to get it into gear to drive away.

After this, the woman told the officer that Hernandez then began to punch the left side of her stomach several times, causing her to believe her water had broken and wetting herself.

After this, the woman said Hernandez had managed to drag her out of the vehicle and that he’d managed to take her phone out of her hands twice. The document states the woman believed he did this to prevent her from calling their mutual friend for help.

The officer reported the woman still had pebbles that appeared to be asphalt on her right arm and elbow.

The woman told the officer Hernandez had taken her phone and coat before leaving with her car.

The officer questioned the woman about Hernandez’s past. When asked if he’d hit her in the past, the woman said it had happened, but never this extreme.

The officer asked where Hernandez might be going; she believed he may have gone back to her residence in Blackfoot but did note that she had kicked him out a few weeks prior.

An ambulance later arrived, and the officer reported dry blood was visible on the woman’s lips and that her front gums appeared swollen.

Interviewing a mutual friend about the incident, he stated he heard the woman scream “bloody murder,” which caused him to look out of his bedroom window.

He told the officer he saw the woman and Hernandez arguing on his lawn, and as he was putting on a coat and shoes, he heard the woman scream again.

Looking outside, he saw the woman walking up to his door, and he let her inside. The man claims he never saw a physical fight.

Hernandez is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before 7th Judicial Magistrate Judge Wiley Dennert at 1 p.m. April 1.

Though Hernandez has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.