ADDISON — A Middlebury man on Monday pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault in Chittenden County Superior Court, criminal division, after he allegedly threw a woman through a window at an Addison home earlier that morning.
It was at around 1 a.m. on Nov. 17 that Vermont State Police Trooper Matthew R. Daley was asked to respond to a report of a family fight at a home on Whitney Creek Drive. Upon their arrival, police said a witness told them that a woman had been thrown against a window in the home and that she and the alleged perpetrator — Jerry Hoffman, 22 — were “both bleeding,” according to court records.
Police were also told that Hoffman had allegedly tried to harm himself in the past and that he was possibly in possession of a knife, according to Daley’s affidavit.
Daley stated in his report he found the victim in the home’s driveway and that she was “covered in blood. Her white shirt was soaked and her green pants had blood all over them.”  
After making sure the victim was safe inside the home, Daley and fellow VSP Trooper Evan Doxsee investigated the above-garage apartment where court records stated the incident took place. There was “blood everywhere” in the apartment, according to Daley’s report, including on the carpet, tables, furniture and walls.
Authorities did not find Hoffman inside the apartment and went outside after they determined the suspect had gone out a window and onto the roof of the residence, eventually sliding down the roof and clinging to a gutter before dropping onto the ground, according to court records.
Using a police dog, troopers tracked Hoffman into some nearby woods and ultimately found him walking back to the residence, according to Daley.
“(Hoffman) was covered in blood and did not have any shoes on his feet,” Daley’s affidavit states. Police traced the origin of that blood to a “very deep cut” on Hoffman’s left wrist, according to court records.
Hoffman was lodged on $2,500 bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility following his arraignment Monday.