Alaska State Troopers have arrested and charged a Nikolaevsk man with third-degree assault after a woman injured her head so severely she “flat lined” — had no pulse — at the South Peninsula Hospital Emergency Room. 

Domnin Martushev, 43, was arrested on Saturday on one count of second-degree assault, domestic violence, a class B felony.

In charging documents, Alaska State Trooper Luke Kumfer said he went to a Nikolaevsk home about 7:45 p.m. Dec. 19 for a report of an assault and a woman bleeding profusely from a wound on her scalp. Anchor Point Emergency Medical Services medics also responded and took the woman to the hospital, about a 40-minute drive. 

The woman told Kumfer she fell down, “kind of.”

Kumfer interviewed four other people, either neighbors or other family. They all told the troopers a similar story: That the woman said Martushev pushed her down, but that if she went to the cops, he would hurt her. 

One witness said when Martushev came into the room, the woman changed her story. Some of the witnesses tried to help the woman stop the bleeding.

Kumfer interviewed Martushev. Martushev claimed the woman had gotten drunk and fell down stairs when they were coming home. Then he said the woman fell when she was going outside and then that she fell inside the home. 

Kumfer said he saw two small pools of blood inside the home. 

A witness in another room in the home said she heard yelling and the woman saying “Don’t push me” and then a loud crash.

Kumfer said that while he was taking Martushev to the Homer Jail, he was informed that the woman “flat lined”  — had a flat line for her pulse on her heart monitor — while being brought into the hospital. Kumfer wrote that he was told by hospital medical staff that the woman was unconscious, not breathing and had no pulse for 8 minutes.

A medical team did cardiopulmonary resuscitation and performed other medical procedures. The team revived her and the woman began to breathe on her own, Kumfer wrote. 

Kumfer interviewed the woman after she had been treated and had medical tests.

Kumfer said the woman told him, “This time nothing happened. It was my fault. I fell down.” She said she slipped while taking off her shoes and hit her head on a lamp.

According to online court records, Martushev posted bail on Dec. 23 and was released. He has a preliminary court hearing at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 30 in the Homer Courthouse.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.