By Christina M. Wright
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
Police have arrested a man who allegedly cut a man with a machete Friday night during a fight on the southeast side of Anderson, according to Anderson Police Department Sgt. Shawn Richwine.
Richwine said a felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon will be proposed to the prosecutor for Navarro Noe, 32. He said police were reviewing potential charges Friday night for the suspect, Roberto Garcia, 31.
Nikki Meyers, 32, said she called police after her boyfriend, Garcia, was cut with a machete while fighting with Noe, who she said is Garcia’s best friend.
“You can fist fight all you want, but there’s no reason to go and pull out knives,” Meyers said, with a background of Anderson police vehicles and onlooking neighbors behind her. “It’s uncalled for.”
Meyers said she had returned to the home in the 800 block of Washington Boulevard on Friday evening to pick up Garcia. She said Garcia and a group of friends were “just hanging out and everything was fine.”
Suddenly, Meyers said, Garcia and his best friend — who she identified as “Loco” — began fist fighting. She said Loco pulled out a pipe and started beating her boyfriend. Garcia, she said, grabbed the pipe and threw it down, continuing to fist fight.
“I guess he (Noe) got scared because he was getting beat too bad, and went into the garage and got a machete,” Meyers said.
She said she tried to drive Garcia away, but Noe was able to cut him before.
Megan McCain said she was sitting on her front porch with friend Michael Thomas, 24, when they saw Meyers run out of the house screaming into a cell phone, “They pulled out a machete.”
“We just thought we would sit out here for a nice evening, and we got a show,” McCain said.
Anderson police, firefighters and paramedics quickly swarmed the scene, McCain and Thomas said.
Eight police vehicles, an ambulance and a fire truck were at the scene Friday at about 8 p.m.
After speaking to the friends, Richwine said Garcia refuted his girlfriend’s claims at first that Noe was the person who cut him.
McCain said she heard Garcia tell Meyers not to call the police, but Meyers responded that she already had.
“They may be mad at me, but I don’t care,” Meyers said, adding that her boyfriend did not want to tell police that Noe cut him.
MCain and Thomas said the house where the incident happened and the two houses next to it typically have a lot of activity.
“It’s not usually this bad,” Thomas said.
Contact Christina M. Wright, 640-4883, christina.wright@heraldbulletin.com.
