Staff Report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Early this morning, 28-year-old Elijah Dantrell Welch found himself in custody, facing charges of domestic battery and child neglect. His arrest followed an incident where he was bitten by a police dog after purportedly defying repeated orders to exit a secured room.

At approximately 1:03 a.m. on November 15, an officer from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to an apartment in Majestic Oaks. This response was triggered by two neighbors who reported overhearing a physical altercation. Both neighbors expressed concern that the resident woman might be pregnant.

Upon arrival, the deputy knocked on the door, which was answered by a woman stepping outside. She indicated her intention to call 911. The deputy then instructed her to gather her children and bring them outside, allowing deputies to address Welch directly.

Welch was cautioned that a K-9 unit would be deployed if he didn’t comply with orders to surrender. Despite his assertions that no physical altercation had occurred, he allegedly locked himself in a bedroom. The K-9 was subsequently deployed, leading to Welch being bitten after he reportedly ignored further commands to leave the room.

The deputy’s investigation found that earlier in the evening, Welch became intoxicated and lay down in a bed with the children in the living room while the woman stayed in her bedroom. At one point, the woman went to check on the children and found Welch holding himself up on the bedroom door frame while urinating on the bed, still occupied by the children. After an argument, Welch allegedly choked the woman, and then they separated for a while to cool off. The woman checked her children and found a wet spot on one child’s sleeve from urine, and when the child said he was scared of Welch, she went outside to call 911, just as deputies knocked on the door.

Welch has been charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, child neglect without great bodily harm, and resisting an officer without violence. He has one local misdemeanor conviction (non-violent). Judge Kristine Van Vorst ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.