PANAMA CITY — Police have arrested a Callaway man they saw beating a juvenile after he allegedly threatened to slit the throat of the teen’s mother, officials said Thursday.
When Panama City Police arrived Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. to a wooded area near Bay Medical Sacred Heart Health Center, bystanders directed them to a ditch on the east side of Palo Alto Avenue below Sixth Street.
The woman was in hysterics, screaming: “He’s beating my son.”
About 40 feet across the murky, water-filled ditch, the officers said they could see 41-year-old Christopher Michael Milwicz Sr. standing over a younger man, hitting and kicking him. As police forged the ditch, ordering the man to stop, Milwicz rubbed dirt in the young man’s face before turning to run off into the woods, according to police reports.
Police ran Milwicz down after a 30-yard foot race and two stun gun jolts to arrest him.
It was the second day police were called to the hospital area about Milwicz, but the first day he eluded capture.
Officers were called to Bay Medical by Milwicz’s ex-girlfriend, who told them Milwicz had made several threats to kill her over the phone and through text messages. Milwicz, the ex-girlfriend and her son lived together for about two years but had ongoing domestic issues. While officers were taking the mother’s statements, Milwicz called the woman. Officers could overhear Milwicz threaten to “slit her throat” over the phone, police reported.
Though his vehicle was spotted in the area and towed from a nearby gas station, police were unable to find Milwicz but obtained a warrant for him for aggravated assault.
The next day, Milwicz confronted the mother and son near the hospital, and the skirmish ensued.
The 17-year-old told officers Milwicz was aggressively approaching his mother, so he attempted to protect her by grasping Milwicz in a “bear hug.” Milwicz broke the attempted restraint and slammed the juvenile to the ground before hitting him multiple times on his face and chest, according to a PCPD news release.
Onlookers called police, who arrested Milwicz and sent the juvenile to the hospital, covered in dirt, with several cuts, scratches and bruises on his body.
Milwicz was transported to the Bay County Jail, charged with domestic battery, child abuse, aggravated assault, harassing phone calls and resisting a law enforcement officer with violence. The juvenile was treated and released from Bay Med.
It’s unclear whether the teen’s mother works or was a patient at Bay Med.