A brother of the Athens man accused of killing a police officer is in jail for beating up his girlfriend and assaulting her daughter over the weekend.
Steven Jerome Hood, 22, remains in the Clarke County Jail on two counts of battery for hitting his girlfriend and ripping out her hair. Hood also is charged with cruelty to children for assaulting his girlfriend’s daughter when she tried to stop him from hitting her mother, a police spokeswoman said.
According to police, Hood and the woman got in a fight Saturday afternoon. Hood tried to take the woman’s mobile phone as she was trying to get away from him.
Hood then snatched the woman by her hair – pulling some of it out – and also grabbed her face, Athens-Clarke County Police spokeswoman Hilda Sorrow said. When the woman’s daughter tried to stop Hood, he stuck his finger in her eye, police said.
Hood remains in jail without bond.
The arrest comes less than two weeks after his brother, Jamie Hood, was arrested on murder charges in the shooting death of Athens-Clarke County Senior Police Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian.
Hood, 33, is accused of shooting Christian and Athens-Clarke County police officer Tony Howard.
Howard is “recovering nicely and progressing really good, thankfully,” Sorrow told the AJC. “He’s in good spirits.”
A memorial fund has been set up for Christian’s family, and an additional fund is being established for Howard, Sorrow said.
“The outpouring from the community for both officers has just been outstanding,” Sorrow said.
Jamie Hood previously served 11 years in prison for a 1997 armed robbery of a pizza delivery man.
One brother, Matthew Hood, is in jail on a probation violation. He was driving a red SUV in which Jamie Hood was riding in when police stopped them. Matthew Hood was arrested and taken to jail, but Jamie Hood ran off, starting authorities on what ended up being a four-day manhunt.
Another brother, Timothy Hood, 22, was shot and killed by an Athens-Clarke police officer on Nov. 6, 2001, after he allegedly held a gun to the officer's head, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.
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