‘Kickin’ it’ a spark for family fight?

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — Gallup Police arrested a woman March 15 for allegedly beating her 16-year-old son and her sister.

Carmelita Jameson, 36, was arrested about 10 a.m. while inside an apartment at 602 Dani Drive on one count of child abuse and one count of battery, according to Gallup Police officer Josie Bowman’s incident report. Shiela Long told police that she is Jameson’s sister and had been “kickin’ it” with her 16-year-old nephew — Jameson’s son — when Jameson attacked her.

Long said that Jameson and her mother, Lily Yazzie, were drinking beer in another room while she and her nephew were talking in a bedroom. She said Jameson suddenly burst in the bedroom and began yelling at her son, telling him to “stand up for himself,” and asking him “what are you going to do?”

The boy later told police that Jameson accused him of taking drugs and called him a child molester. He said Long “stood up for him,” saying: “What kind of mother are you to say things like that to your son?”

At that point, Long said, Jameson pushed her against a wall and she pushed back. Jameson hit Long, then grabbed her hair and dragged her down the hallway and into the living room. Long tried to leave but Jameson blocked the door, pushed her against a table and again began hitting her.

“I had to tackle my mom off of my auntie because she wouldn’t stop,” the boy told police.

He said Jameson punched him in the face; police found his left cheek still red.

Police found Jameson drinking beer with her mother, Yazzie, in another, nearby apartment. They arrested her without incident.

Reporter Phil Stake can be reached at philip.stake@gmail.com, or by calling (505) 863-6811 x223.