53. Former Oak Hill cop Manuel Perez charged with domestic violence

Former Oak Hill cop Manuel Perez is shown far left in a jail mug after his arrest Feb. 1, 2012, on a charge of domestic violence. Less than three months later, the state dismissed the case.

ORMOND BEACH -- The Oak Hill police force had been gone more than six months, but one of its former cops continued to make headlines.

Manuel Perez was arrested back in February on a charge of domestic violence after punching his wife in the face with a closed fist and repeatedly striking her about her arms, according to Ormond Beach police. But less than three mnhs later, the state dismissed the case.

The Perez incident comes in at No. 53 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 stories of 2012.

The violence erupted the previous day when he flung a plate of food across the kitchen because he didn't like the way his wife prepared some food for him, Ormond Beach police Cpl. C. Pliapol said.

"She was making him some salsa and apparently not the way he liked it and he threw it all over the kitchen,"the Ormond Beach cop said the wife told responding officers to their Ormond Beach residence."

The victim told police she was subsequently punched in the face by Perez. "She had welts on her left upper arm and redness around her left cheek," Pliapol told NSB News, adding she declined transport to the hospital.

Instead she chose to leave the state in favor of staying with her mother in Georgia for her own protection and that of the children, Pliapol said.

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