James Upshaw could be the meanest man in Augusta. Here’s what deputies found when they answered a 911 call to his home on Gatewood Drive this month:
The deputy heard someone crying inside the door April 13 and knocked twice before Upshaw’s wife finally answered the door. Her eyes were red and it appeared she was crying. Inside the deputy found three teenagers standing in the hallway crying.
A 14-year-old boy told the officer he called 911 because he was tired of James Upshaw “hitting on his mother.” His 15-year-old sister then spoke up, agreeing that she was “tired of James Upshaw hitting her mother also.”
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The officer asked the suspect’s wife what happened. He noticed a bag of ice on the table the victim standing in the dark. She would not turn on the light, so he shined his light on her face. Her left eye was swollen and turning blue.
The victim was scared to talk, according to the officer’s report.
“She advised me if she told on James Upshaw, he was going to come back and kill her. I asked her why she stated that and she stated he said that to her,” the officer said. “(She) refused to provide me any information on James Upshaw. She would not allow me to take a picture of her injury because she is afraid James Upshaw is going to kill her from the previous threats.”
The 15-year-old girl told the deputy that this wasn’t the first time James Upshaw had jumped on her mother. “She stated they were in the room when they heard a loud bang come from the bathroom and found James Upshaw on top of (their mom),” the officer said.
The girl’s 21-year-old brother tried to stop the assault, but James Upshaw pulled out a pocket knife and told him, “If you attempt to stop me, I will kill you.” That’s when the younger brother called 911.
“The kids in the residence are terrified of James Upshaw,” the officer said in this report. “They advised their mother in my presence that they were tired of him jumping on her and they wanted to move to get away from him. They are afraid James Upshaw is going to kill their mother if she does not get help or leave him.”
When the officer told the victim he planned to seek a warrant against her husband, she begged him not to. “Don’t do it because he will come back and kill me!” she said.
The officer said it was out of his hands because of her injury.
A warrant against the 35-year-old suspect was obtained for terroristic threats & acts as well as simple battery – family violence. Yet, authorities were unable to arrest Upshaw for 12 days. He was arrested Monday and remains in jail today under no bond.
