By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — A Salisbury man remains in the Rowan County Detention Center today after he was accused of assaulting a woman and holding her against her will inside a home. Rowan detectives received video footage of an argument between the pair that showed him holding her down, according to a Rowan County Sheriff’s Office report.

Michael Todd Foster Jr., 25, of the 1000 block of Main Street, was charged on Tuesday with felony second-degree kidnapping, misdemeanor assault on a female and misdemeanor child abuse. He also has three failure to appear warrants from Rowan and Cabarrus counties.

The victim’s father obtained a video of the argument and subsequent assault. He requested that law enforcement check on his daughter who’d been with Foster in the 100 block of Thunder Road in China Grove.

When deputies arrived, the 25-year-old victim was outside talking with another deputy. Her ear was bleeding and she had red marks on her neck. The victim’s earring had been ripped from her ear, said Capt. John Sifford.

Sifford said the two were reportedly arguing about unfaithfulness via the social media app Snapchat. Foster allegedly tried to take the victim’s phone and she refused to give it to him. The pair wrestled on the floor for the cellphone. The suspect is accused of placing his hand over the victim’s mouth, preventing her from being able to sufficiently breathe.

The video showed the two arguing while the victim had a young child in her arms. The video shows the woman trying to get up from the floor and the suspect holding her down, demanding that she give him her cellphone. A different woman is shown in the video walking into the room and pleading with the two to stop arguing because of the children in the house. The woman removed the child from the victim’s arms and walked out of the room, Sifford said.

The man released her and both got up from the floor, Sifford said, but then the suspect grabbed the victim and threw her onto a bed. He placed his hand over the victim’s mouth and she told him she couldn’t breathe. The unidentified woman returned to the room, and again asked the pair to stop fighting.

The suspect, according to the video, released the victim but then stepped in front of her, preventing her from leaving the room. He grabbed her by the shirt and eventually released her, but refused to let her leave the room. She was then pushed against a wall and allowed to leave.

It’s not clear if someone recorded the video or if it’s the result of a home security system, Sifford said.

Foster did not receive a bond due to the domestic violence nature of some charges and a $3,500 bond for the other offenses. Foster has a prior conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon in addition to other felony offenses for breaking and entering, larceny, obtaining property by false pretenses, common law robbery and credit card theft.