UPDATED: Stoney LaRue Charged with Domestic Abuse / Girlfriend Denies Reports
This story has been updated (see below).
Texas country artist Stoney LaRue was arrested for domestic abuse in Oklahoma City early Monday (7-20) after police received a 911 call from Stoney’s girlfriend. Stoney was arrested without incident, booked into the Oklahoma County Jail and was later released on bond.
“Yesterday morning (7-20), it was at about roughly 7:00-7:30, we got the initial call, and a female was contacting us saying that he [Stoney LaRue] had pushed her down the stairs,” Sergeant Jennifer Wardlow of the Oklahoma City Police Department tells Saving Country Music. “Apparently what had happened, he, meaning Stoney, had gone out to have some drinks with another female, and the girlfriend I guess decided she didn’t want to go, and so she went out with this other girl. They came home very early, I think they said it was about 4:00 in the morning, were intoxicated, creating kind of a commotion, so she [the girlfriend] decided to go out and sleep in the car because she had to get up the next day and she wanted to be able to get some rest.”
When the girlfriend woke up early the next morning is when the incident occurred.
“She goes out to the car to sleep, gets up shortly before 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning (7-20), needs to get around, get ready, and the commotion of her getting ready disturbed him because he wanted to sleep,” says Sargent Wardlow. “So he grabbed her curling iron and threw it down the stairs, grabbed her makeup bag and threw it down the stairs. According to the report, when she was bending down to pick those items up, he pushed her, and she kind of went head over feet down the stairs. So officers took him into custody without any problem, [and] arrested him. The other female that was there as well was apparently hindering our officers. They were trying to take photos of the victim’s injuries. It’s not real clear on what she was doing, but was somehow interfering so she ended up going to jail as well.”
The other suspect has been identified as 43-year-old Richa Chandra. Stoney’s girlfriend reportedly had scrapes and scratches on her left leg and knee, and scratches on her back.
Though the Oklahoma City Police Department does not release the names of domestic abuse victims, Stoney’s girlfriend Amanda Winsworth posted on Twitter Tuesday morning, “The happenings of this incident have been blown out of proportion by the media. I was never struck by my boyfriend. Please respect our privacy while we fix this matter.”
Saving Country Music reached out to the management of Stoney LaRue, but they had not returned messages by the time of this post. As further information on this incident comes available, this story will be updated.
Stoney LaRue is a well-known artist in the Texas Country / Red Dirt scene. He was born in Taft, Texas and grew up in Southeastern Oklahoma. He released his latest record Aviator in 2014, and sand harmonies on Miranda Lambert’s song “All Kinds of Kinds.”
The happenings of this incident have been blown out of proportion by the media. I was never struck by my boyfriend @stoneylarue.
Amanda Winsworth (@JustFancy_) July 21, 2015
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
Stoney LaRue has made an official statement regarding the domestic abuse charges:
I want to apologize to my family, my friends and my fans for the recent circumstances that have come to light. I am going to take some time to work on myself. I will be entering an intensive and extensive program, and I appreciate your thoughts and good wishes for me during this trying time. Please check my website and Facebook page for updates on my upcoming tour dates, but most importantly, I appreciate your support during this time.
July 21, 2015 @ 9:39 am
Damn that’s crazy, hopefully they are able to work everything out.
July 21, 2015 @ 9:39 am
Gene Tenace at the plate and………….. Whammy!!!!!!
July 21, 2015 @ 2:59 pm
ha A+
July 21, 2015 @ 9:41 am
Thanks for the superb reporting in this article. Best I’ve seen yet. Always sad to see any situation like this come up.
July 21, 2015 @ 9:47 am
Shit, Stoney was just in my town last week and put on a hell of a show. I’m very sorry to see this, I’ve got a low tolerance for domestic violence but folks should be allowed to work stuff out for themselves if no one is getting hurt.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:20 am
I’ll refrain from saying much until we hear further details.
I suppose the only thing I’d add is that it struck me as interesting how ambiguous Amanda’s Tweet was. She does rule out being struck by Stony, which is important to acknowledge. But she doesn’t rule out being threatened by him either and, seeing that she had scratches on her left leg, knee and back, could have slipped and fallen as he was chasing her or something! =/
Domestic violence is NEVER anything to take lightly. But I’ll await further details and hope Amanda isn’t holding back in her statement.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:54 am
The problem is most of the time you never find out the truth. So many females are often subject to domestic violence and their initial reaction is the correct one by calling the authorities. Then after it settles down, they start fearing that they are going to lose the person or in celebrities case, realize the backlash that is about to happen, so they immediately try to backtrack their story. Some women want to be with somebody so bad, that they try to hang on no matter what and you see it every day. I’m not saying this is what happened here, but with her already trying to diffuse the story, if Stoney did do something, it will never come out.
July 21, 2015 @ 11:01 am
That’s very true.
Which is why the open-endedness of her Tweet is revealing in itself. At least her wording in it closes the door on any physical assault taking place (which we’d obviously like to believe is the case and wasn’t informed by that fear of backlash). But it leaves the door open on a host of other hypotheticals and she also acknowledges there is indeed a “matter” (whether it be something rather serious that is the culmination of a string of many smaller but tense prior incidents, or something isolated) they hope to “fix”.
So at the very least she didn’t abjectly close the door altogether and deny all transgressions if there’s something of particular concern that will be revealed later.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:59 am
She said he didn’t “strike” her, however, the police report states “he pushed her down a flight of stairs”. Many domestic violence victims that wish to recant try to cover by mincing words, as she did in her tweet.
July 21, 2015 @ 11:42 am
And, just re-reading everything, it’s clear that pushing someone down a flight of stairs IS a form of aggravated assault. Period.
Thus contradicting part of her Tweet if the police report account is confirmed. The fact the rest of the Tweet doesn’t rule out other forms of aggression is revealing in itself but the whole underscores how semantics woefully get in the way of calling incidents as they are.
July 21, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
You hit the nail on the head, Nadia, when you state, “…semantics woefully get in the way of calling incidents as they are.” Thank you for your insight.
My past includes domestic violence. I was unable to identify it because I pushed/fought back when he came at me with his hands or an object. Becoming aggressive in return, I changed the meaning and form of each abusive grab, push, slap, punch, etc. You see, semantics got in the way of calling my entire experience what is was.
Having said all of that, I am replying to you because of how wise and truly insightful your statement is. However, the actual situation with LaRue & Winsworth is just that…a situation, a matter, an issue. The more we talk about it the bigger it becomes. I’m praying for them and leaving it at that because it saddens me. Believe me, I can speculate and branch off in a million different directions lol. Thank you Nadia for putting into words what I never could.
July 21, 2015 @ 1:50 pm
My heart feels heavy and cringes learning of what you’ve had to endure for so long! I feel stinging sympathy for you! =(
I realize I probably talked on a little too much in this thread when further details have yet to emerge, so I’m stopping here too! My heart feels heavy for all involved here too! =(
July 21, 2015 @ 11:22 am
Well, the original claim that she made was that he pushed her, which technically is not striking. So I wonder if she chose that word carefully. However, pushing someone down stairs obviously would be an assault.
July 21, 2015 @ 11:38 am
I must have overlooked that just now.
We need to call a spade a spade and recognize shoving someone down a flight of stairs IS assault, and no less so than “striking”. And if the reality sizes up with the police report, then she has already contradicted a portion of her Tweet statement.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:33 am
I read that comment on the other article ‘the news about Stoney Larue coming out’ and this is not what I was expecting. I work the closing shift quite a bit, I get home about midnight, I check SCM and then I go to bed. This time a year ago I was getting to bed a lot earlier, but I was just laying there for hours and sometimes not sleeping until 2 or 3. People gotta take care of themselves. get plenty of sleep and eat right.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:38 am
This sucks if true, I’m a huge Stoney LaRue fan.
July 21, 2015 @ 10:47 am
If true (which we don’t know), disappointing. Big Stoney fan. Hope he gets it together.
July 21, 2015 @ 12:14 pm
stoney dont look like stoney without his do rag thats for sure.
July 21, 2015 @ 2:24 pm
That is not good he needs some professional help so he can get himself to be a better person.
July 21, 2015 @ 2:58 pm
I think the girlfriend got pretty po’d when she found out that, in fact, Stoney had an affair with Miranda Lambert, causing her divorce. I’d be pretty miffed myself..no wonder they got into a fight!
July 21, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
no, you got it wrong. She was sleeping with blake. Thats why he pushed her down the stairs.
July 21, 2015 @ 4:44 pm
I stand corrected.
July 21, 2015 @ 3:17 pm
Well who knows for sure what happened but Stoney is a talented artist who hopefully can get his personal life in good order and move forward.
July 21, 2015 @ 6:50 pm
Man, somebody must’ve beat that dude with an ugly stick
July 22, 2015 @ 4:50 am
That “Mugshot” due is not a good look for him.
July 22, 2015 @ 5:20 am
Spoken like someone who is assuredly God’s gift to classic male handsomeness.
July 22, 2015 @ 8:43 am
You have no idea, and you’d be shocked. When I was young, women chased me.
July 22, 2015 @ 9:31 am
I often disagree with Clint, but given Stoney’s alleged actions, Clint’s comment here is absolutely warranted.
July 22, 2015 @ 9:36 am
Gives a whole other meaning to “feet don’t touch the ground”. Sorry I couldn’t help it.
July 22, 2015 @ 10:15 am
Is that Todd Packer?
July 22, 2015 @ 10:54 am
Call me crazy, but I see a cross between Benny Hill and Gordon Jump (Mr. Carlson from WKRP).
July 22, 2015 @ 8:00 pm
Hate to laugh at something in a situation like this, but that does look a lot like Packer. Love that show!
July 22, 2015 @ 12:16 pm
Could play Randy Quaid’s character in Independence Day 2.
July 22, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
Little known fact, he was arrested in Nashville in November 2014 for domestic dispute.
July 23, 2015 @ 6:14 am
He looks like a bi**h so i’m not shocked.
July 23, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
One of the photos on Amanda Winsworth’s Twitter account is a proud picture of Stoney Larue’s text saying “We should live together.” Oooopsie! That’s embarrassing…
July 24, 2015 @ 7:29 am
how in the hell does THAT pull Amanda Winsworth ?!?!?