A 19-year-old Tennessee man is behind bars after authorities say he brutally assaulted a man with a plunger and fled the scene with the victim’s 3-year-old daughter.
Charles Coffman was arrested and booked into the Knox County Jail on multiple felony charges, including attempted second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and theft.
According to a police report obtained by NBC affiliate WBIR, Knoxville police were called to a home on Mercer Street around 8:45 a.m. Sunday to perform a welfare check. The caller expressed concern that a man inside might be dead and that his young daughter may have been abducted.
When officers arrived, they forced entry into the home and discovered the victim in the bathroom, naked and suffering from a severe head wound. The residence reeked of bleach, and the child was nowhere to be found.
Local CBS affiliate WVLT reported that the victim’s Ford Expedition was also missing. Police quickly issued an alert for the vehicle, which was later located along with Coffman, a woman, and the missing child.
According to the report, Coffman told police his mother had called him from jail and instructed him to retrieve the child from the home. Authorities later confirmed that the child’s legal guardians were the victim and Coffman’s mother.
Coffman admitted he and the woman took an Uber to the house, where he became involved in a violent altercation with the man. He allegedly confessed to slamming the victim to the ground, punching him multiple times, hitting him with a toilet plunger, and forcing the plunger into the man’s mouth. He further admitted to dragging the victim into the bathroom, stripping him, and pouring bleach on his wounds.
Police say Coffman also confessed to taking the victim’s SUV but claimed the child’s mother had given him permission — a claim she later denied. She told investigators she had not spoken to Coffman and would never have authorized him to take her child or the vehicle.
The woman who accompanied Coffman told officers she entered the home and saw the victim on the floor. Coffman then allegedly handed her the child, and the three left in the SUV. She also told police she overheard Coffman on a phone call saying he had gotten into a fight and wasn’t sure if the man was still alive.
The victim was transported to a hospital and diagnosed with a subdural hematoma and other serious injuries. He was reportedly unable to speak with investigators due to his condition.
Coffman was formally booked into jail on Monday. A bond hearing is scheduled for Friday.
