A 38-year-old Big Coppitt Key man was arrested Sunday afternoon after allegedly beating up a woman with a conch shell and throwing her into a canal.

Calvin Joseph Teal was charged with aggravated battery, possession of pills (Xanax) without a prescription and smuggling contraband (Xanax) into a detention facility.

Lower Keys Deputy Freddy Rodriguez responded to 9 Riviera Drive on Big Coppitt Key at 1 p.m. on a medical call regarding a woman bleeding from the head. Deputy Rodriguez arrived to find two paramedics treating a 44-year-old woman who was bleeding profusely from the head and multiple bruises throughout her body. The woman told Deputy Rodriguez that Teal beat her, threw her down on the floor and then threw her into the canal. A neighbor told Deputy Rodriguez that Teal was inside the house, sleeping.

Deputy Rodriguez noticed blood stained floors, a large amount of bloody paper towels in the kitchen trash can and a blood trail leading down a hallway to a bedroom where Teal was sleeping. Deputy Rodriguez immediately handcuffed Teal and placed him in the back of a patrol car. The injured woman was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island given the large gash to her head.

Deputy Rodriguez spoke to the neighbor. The neighbor said he heard a loud splash. The neighbor saw the woman in the water. The neighbor helped the woman out of the water. The neighbor noticed a large gash to the woman’s head. The neighbor said he tried to stop the bleeding, but the bleeding would not stop.

Teal was taken to jail. A bottle without a prescription label containing 34 Xanax pills were found in Teal’s possession as he was being booked into jail.

Deputy Lazaro Valdes met with the woman at the hospital. The woman told Deputy Valdes that Teal hit her in the head with a conch shell prior to throwing her in the canal.

~~~~

Note: Information in this crime report was provided by area law enforcement. Please remember that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.