A South Bend common council candidate has been charged with felony domestic battery for allegedly punching and strangling his 15-year-old daughter Monday.
Forty-six-year-old Roosevelt Stewart is a Republican running for the council’s 2nd District seat in the November 7th election.
Police responded to their home in the 1200 block of North Huey Street. Prosecutors say the girl told police that Stewart had gotten on top of her and punched her in the mouth, splitting her lip, when she refused to give him his car keys because he had been drinking. She said she also had become dizzy after he wrapped his hands around her throat.
Stewart was in the St. Joseph County Jail Tuesday awaiting an initial court appearance that was scheduled for Wednesday. Prosecutors have asked the court for an order prohibiting Stewart, while free on bond, from having contact with his daughter or a juvenile family member who was a witness.
Stewart is running against Democrat Ophelia Gooden-Rodgers for the council seat. He would be the first Republican in modern history to win a council seat in the second district, which covers the city’s west side. The all-Republican county commissioners, Carl Baxmeyer, Derek Dieter and Deb Fleming, gave Stewart their Citizen of the Month Award in October.
And on Saturday Republican County Council Member Dan Schaetzle shared a post on Facebook calling Stewart the “real deal.”
In court records, prosecutors said Stewart also has a criminal history under a different name but they did not elaborate.
Follow WVPE for more later on this developing story.
