An Orange City woman nearly drowned when her infuriated husband held her face down in their dog's water bowl after an argument over a frozen pizza, police said.
As old rock and rollers belted out tunes on TV during a benefit concert Wednesday night, 59-year-old Debra Watson thought she was going to die, Orange City police said.
As a result, her husband, Richard Watson, is sitting in the Volusia County Branch Jail, charged with attempted murder and battery.
The episode is the second time this week in Volusia County an argument about food ended in injury or death.
It all started just before 10 p.m. at the Watson's residence on Volusia Avenue, police said, when Debra Watson asked Richard Watson to watch the much-hailed “12-12-12 Concert” with her on TV. Richard Watson was watching TV in another room of the house and once his program was over, he sat down with his wife to watch her show, an arrest report shows.
When Debra Watson brought out a frozen pizza that had been cooking in the oven, though, things got heated, an arrest report shows.
Complaining that the pizza crust was “raw,” Richard Watson flung his dinner plate into the front door, police said. Debra Watson followed suit, throwing her own plate on the floor, the arrest report states.
That prompted Richard Watson to tackle his wife, grab her head and shove her face into the family dog's water bowl, police said. The bowl is 5 inches across and had about 3 inches of water in it, police said.
“She felt her life was going to end,” said Orange City Cmdr. Jason Sampsell.
Debra Watson told police that while her husband was holding her head down in the water, she heard him say, “I'm going to kill you . . .,” the report states.
She said she had no idea whether her husband was keeping her head down with his hand or whether he had his knee on her head, the report shows.
Somehow, Debra Watson broke free. But then she found herself up against a corner of the living room near the front door as Richard Watson tried to strangle her, police said.
When officers arrived at the house, Richard Watson told them he had only held his wife in order to prevent her from breaking any more dishes. He said he never hit her and that she “gets mad for no reason,” the report states.
Neighbors told police that the row had been going on for at least an hour before officers arrived and that they could hear things breaking inside the apartment.
In a brief telephone interview Thursday, Debra Watson said she had no idea what the fight was about and blamed the underdone pizza on her husband, saying he was the one who cooked it. She didn't want to talk about the attack.
Earlier this week, police say a 55-year-old Holly Hill man shot his roommate to death after the pair argued about how to cook pork chops. The shooter, Thomas Hahn, is also at the Branch Jail, charged with second-degree murder.
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