OC Man Sentenced to Five Years for Assault

SNOW HILL- An Ocean City man arrested in April on attempted murder and other serious charges after allegedly attacking his live-in girlfriend, choking and nearly breaking the victim’s arm before attacking her with a knife, was found guilty this week in Circuit Court of second-degree assault and was sentenced to five years in jail.

Ronald E. Flawd, 44, of Ocean City appeared in Circuit Court on Monday to face a variety of charges including first- and second-degree attempted murder. Flawd was found guilty of second-degree assault and was sentenced to five years in jail. On the other charges, he was found not guilty.

Around 12:30 a.m. on April 5, the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) was dispatched to a residence on Sunset Drive in the 26th Street area to assist Ocean City EMS personnel with a woman whose arm was allegedly broken. Upon arrival, the OCPD officer met with a man later identified as Ronald E. Flawd, 44, who told police his girlfriend’s arm might be broken because she slipped and fell.

The officer met with the victim, who was reportedly lying on a couch, clutching her right arm to her body and crying. The victim told police she had come home to the apartment and got into an argument with Flawd. According to the witness’s statement, Flawd was intoxicated and accused her of being unfaithful to him. The victim told police Flawd grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto the couch.

When the victim got up, Flawd grabbed her right arm and slammed it into the couch, almost causing her arm to break at the elbow. According to police reports, at that point, Flawd allegedly grabbed the victim by the throat and began to strangle her. According to police reports, Flawd then threw the victim back onto the couch, reached into the kitchen area about two feet away and grabbed a kitchen knife.

Flawd then stood over the victim, who was now lying on her back on the couch, and told her “you’re going to die tonight,” according to police reports. The victim told police Flawd then tried to stab her in the chest with the kitchen knife, but she was able to deflect the stab with her hands and in doing so, received a slash wound across the palm of her hand.

The victim told police Flawd then became upset and remorseful. He offered to call an ambulance for the victim on the condition she lie about how she received her injuries. The victim told Flawd she would tell paramedics and police she received her injuries from a fall, according to police reports. The victim later told police the reason she agreed to lie about how she sustained her injuries was because Flawd would not call for help otherwise, according to police reports.

The victim told police Flawd tried to hurriedly clean up any blood before paramedics and police arrived, however, his clean-up efforts were unsuccessful. The officer said in his report there was a slashing wound on the victim’s palm and there were smears of blood on her forearm. The officer also noticed drops of blood were splattered around the floor of the apartment.