NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Lakeport man was arrested by Mendocino County authorities late last week after he is alleged to have assaulted his ex-wife and endangered their children.

Jessie Edward Slotte, 31,  was arrested on Saturday for assault with a deadly weapon, felony domestic violence battery and child endangerment, according to a report from Sgt. Mike Dygert of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Dygert said that at 7:40 p.m. Saturday Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported domestic violence incident in the 11000 block of East Road in Potter Valley.

Upon their arrival the deputies learned that Slotte and a 31-year-old adult female from Lakeport had previously been married and had children in common, Dygert said.

Dygert said both Slotte and the adult female were in a vehicle together with a 3-year-old male and a 5-month-old female.
 
Slotte’s ex-wife was driving the vehicle down the road when she and Slotte became engaged in an argument. Dygert said the argument escalated and Slotte reached down and pushed on the vehicle's accelerator pedal while one of his hands grabbed the steering wheel, causing the woman to temporarily lose control of the vehicle.

Slotte then brandished a pocket knife and held it at the adult female’s neck and threatened to kill her, Dygert said.

Dygert said the woman stopped the vehicle and attempted to get the children out when Slotte attacked her by pushing her to the ground and kicking her once on the left side of her torso.

The woman got up and was attempting to retrieve the children when Slotte started driving away in the vehicle while the adult female was partially in the vehicle, Dygert said. This caused the adult female's feet to be dragged on the ground several feet while striking some roadside mailboxes before Slotte stopped the vehicle.
 
Dygert said the woman managed to get one of the children out of the vehicle before Slotte drove off at a high rate of speed.
 
Deputies observed visible injuries on the adult female’s legs, Dygert said.
 
At 9:11 p.m. Saturday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies located Slotte in the city of Lakeport and arrested him, according to Dygert.

Slotte was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $30,000 bail, Dygert said.