Months After Domestic Dispute, AA Co. Sheriff's Wife Pens Apology
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Nine months after her husband was arrested following an alleged domestic incident in their Pasadena home, and five months after he was acquitted of the assault charges stemming from it, the wife of Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ronald Bateman has written a letter of apology.
In the letter, sent to WJZ Monday afternoon, Elsie Bateman apologizes to her husband, to her son (a witness to the alleged incident), the Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Office, the Anne Arundel County Chief of Police and the residents of the county.
Sheriff Bateman was arrested on charges of second-degree assault in April. At that time, police reports said a domestic argument between the couple had turned physical.
In the letter, Elsie wrote that, despite her initial accusations, that "Ron has never, ever, touched me in a hurtful way ever."
She claims she drank "a lot more than [she] should have" on the night of the incident and "was not thinking clearly."
In charging documents obtained by WJZ in April, Mrs. Bateman said her husband threw her into a wall causing her to hit the back of her head.
Following Bateman's arrest, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh and other top leaders had asked for him to resign.
Days after the April incident, Elsie said the assault charges were misinterpreted, and that her husband never hit her or intentionally hurt her.
The sheriff denied hitting his wife, as well, releasing a statement to WJZ saying, "I categorically deny ever assaulting my wife. We had an emotional family dispute which led the police to come to our home. I love my wife dearly and I am confident she loves me."
In court, Elsie chose not to testify against her husband, invoking spousal privilege.
Bateman was acquitted in July. The couple agreed to counseling and the state decided not to bring any further evidence.
"In some cases what's best for the family isn't proceeding with prosecution, it's counseling and therapy and moving on," said Buffy Giddens, Asst. State's Attorney for St. Mary's County at that time.
Sheriff Bateman refused to step down and resumed his role in office after his acquittal. He had been assigned to administrative duties during this investigation.
Mrs. Bateman's lawyer, Thomas Fleckenstein, confirms that she wrote the letter and declined further comment.
It reads:
"I would like to take this opportunity, in my own words and with my own feelings, to make a few public apologies for my behavior back in April 2016.
My first and most important apology is to my husband, Ron Bateman, the love of my life and the only person who has been my rock through a tremendous amount of personal issues that I have been dealing with that involve my family. These are issues which I do not wish to discuss as they are very personal and involve children and other family members. I do wish to stress the fact that Ron has never, ever, touched me in a hurtful way ever. He is the most kind hearted person I have ever met and worships the ground that I walk on, which everyone can plainly see, and has always treated me and everyone with whom he comes in contact with, with the utmost respect and kindness. This man was trying to help me get through an extremely difficult time, as I was, and still am dealing with an abundance of extremely difficult issues, which had led me to drink a lot more than I should have. I was not thinking clearly at all that night (and many nights leading up to the night) that I came home in a very distraught mood and took all my pent up anger out on the only person that has been there for me, and for that I am truly very sorry. I cannot take back my actions from that night, but I can, and will be, the person that learns from my mistakes and will do everything I can to let Ron know just how very sorry I am for hurting him.
To my son, who witnessed my behavior and events of that night, as most children do, he did exactly what I told him to do and say. I put him in a very bad place that I can never take back and I am very sorry. I have spent my entire adult life trying to be a good role model and person for my children and teach them how to be good people, and I feel as though I let my husband and all of my children down and I am very sorry and I hope that one day they can all forgive me.
To the men and women of the Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Office: First, I would like to give a very heartfelt apology to Colonel Rick Tabor, his wife and his children. I know what I did caused you and your family a lot of hurt and embarrassment and I want to say that I am truly sorry and I hope that one day you can forgive me. To the rest of the men and women of the Sheriff's office, I know my actions caused a lot of embarrassment to everyone and for that I am truly very sorry.
To the Chief of Police Timothy Altomare and the men and woman of the AACO Police Department: I am sorry that my actions wasted the time, money, energy and resources that were put in to handling the outcome of my actions that night and the several days that followed. I have the greatest amount of respect for the work that you all do on a daily basis and I know you had more important calls that you could have been taking care of than having to be pulled away for my behavior and lies and actions and for that I am truly sorry.
Importantly, I sat down with the Director of the YWCA and had a one on one conversation, explaining my actions and offering my sincerely apologies to the TRUE victims, both Men and Women, of Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence toward anyone is not something that should be taken lightly or lied about and I am ashamed that I used that in a hurtful manner. I cannot stress just how very sorry I am to all of the men and women who have been touched in any part by domestic violence.
Lastly, I would like to apologize to the citizens of Anne Arundel County as a whole and a county that I am very thankful and proud to be a part of and love. I know my actions were terrible, immature and irresponsible and downright stupid, but once again I was not myself and I was at a point in my life that I really didn't care about anything or anyone and I only have myself to blame. I have and will continue to take full and absolute responsibility for my actions.
People have said some very mean things to me and my family about my actions and as I expect it and do deserve it for myself, but my family does not and it hurts me that I put them all in this situation. With all of that being said, I have grown to be a better person because of it and will continue to make myself a better person for my husband and my children and my family.
I have come to terms with my actions of that night and days that followed and I have dealt with them in a professional setting with the help of my husband, family, friends and counseling and I will only be looking forward from this point on and not in the past.
I cannot take back what I have done, I can only learn from it and have made some very necessary changes for the better and look forward to a happy, healthy future with my husband, family and friends and will stop at nothing to make sure they all know just how truly very sorry I am from the bottom of my heart.
In life it is way too easy to hurt someone and cause harm to someone by words and/or actions, but it is not as easy to accept responsibility for those words and/or actions and step up and say you are sorry for them and ask for forgiveness. I am coming to you all today with many regrets for all the people that I have hurt with my words/actions and I am accepting full responsibility for them and I am asking each and every one of you to someday maybe, find it in your heart to forgive me.
Thank you for letting me take the time to personally address an issue that has been bothering me and something I have wanted to do for some time now, and that is to say I AM SORRY."
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