Early morning domestic incident leads to arrest

Historic City News has learned that a 26-year-old St Augustine Beach man is in custody this morning in lieu of $4000 bond after being arrested by St Augustine Police on charges that he repeatedly stuck his girlfriend, trapped her in the apartment that they share, and held her against her will as she attempted to leave for work.

Officer Mike Keegan reported that the victim of the domestic battery called police from her job at an attraction on Anastasia Boulevard about 9:00 Sunday morning. She told officers that, at about 4:00 a.m., her boyfriend, Sean Paul Gronquist, got into an argument with her. When he called her a “slut”, she told Keegan that she slapped him.

According to the arrest report, Gronquist told the victim to leave. The victim stated that Gronquist threw her belongings on the floor in the living room; “he began breaking things and throwing clothes and jewelry at her,” the narrative of the incident says. Although the victim says that she was attempting to leave, she told officers that she couldn’t find her car keys after Gronquist threw her purse into the front yard.

The attack went on, the victim said; on several occasions, Gronquist pushed her to the ground — causing bruising to her knees and left shoulder that was observed by the police. She described yesterday morning’s chain of events:

The victim reported to police that she attempted to leave on her bicycle; but Gronquist would not let her leave — she was forced to run away from the house in her pajamas without shoes. She ran to her parent’s house which is about 2 miles away and she returned home about 7:00 a.m. to get ready for work.

When she did, Gronquist would not let her leave. He jumped on the hood of her car and convinced her to go back inside the house; then, once back inside, Gronquist would not let her leave. Instead, the victim says, he chased her from door-to-door; locking each one.

The victim managed to get out a text message to a co-worker that she was trapped and unable to leave. Another co-worker came to the residence to assist. Gronquist finally let the victim leave so that she could travel to work. At that time, she called the police.

After Gronquist agreed to meet with officers Keegan and Ferrell, he admitted that he did argue with the victim and break some items in the home. He said that he pushed her down; about 3 times to stop her from slapping him. He also said that he did keep from leaving the residence and that he knew that was wrong.

Gronquist had small scratches on his forearms, according to Keegan — but no visible marks on his face. The officers were able to observe that the victim suffered large bruises on her knees and one on her left shoulder. Gronquist completed a written statement with his version of the event; and was arrested and charged with kidnapping or false imprisonment, and battery.