Gainesville man arrested for domestic battery and child neglect after allegedly urinating on children’s bed

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Elijah Dantrell Welch, 28, was arrested early this morning for domestic battery and child neglect and was bitten by a K-9 after allegedly ignoring multiple commands to come out of a locked room.

At about 1:03 a.m. on November 15, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to an apartment in Majestic Oaks after two neighbors called to say they could hear a physical fight; both callers said they believed the woman living in the apartment was pregnant.

When the deputy knocked on the apartment door, a woman opened the door and came outside; she said she was just walking out to call 911. The deputy asked the woman to gather her children and bring them outside so deputies could speak with Welch.

Welch was reportedly warned that a K-9 would be sent in to bite him if he refused to come out, but he reportedly said nothing physical had occurred, and when the K-9 arrived, he allegedly retreated into a locked bedroom. He was bitten by the K-9 after allegedly ignoring commands to come out of 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.