WEAPON CHARGE Apartment complex fight results in woman's arrest

Police were given various accounts of the fight.
AUSTINTOWN -- A Compass West woman was arrested Wednesday night by police who responded to a call about a fight involving several people at the Burkey Road apartment complex.
Police charged Angela Birchfield, 35, with improper handling of a firearm in a vehicle. Police said Birchfield was driving a car that left the complex when officers arrived to investigate the fight call at about 8:15 p.m. About eight to 10 people also ran off when officers arrived, reports state.
Police said about 70 to 80 people were standing in the parking lot watching the fight.
Reports state that officers pulled over Birchfield a short distance from the complex. Her son was sitting in the car's front passenger seat, police said. Reports do not give the age of the son. The son told police the fight had stemmed from an argument he had with another man over money.
The other man involved in the argument told police Birchfield's son had threatened him with a gun.
Reports note that other witnesses gave police various statements about the fight.
Mishandled weapon
Police said they searched Birchfield's car and found an unloaded .40-caliber pistol under the front passenger's seat. Birchfield told police she did not know why the gun was in the car.
Birchfield's boyfriend later told police he had put the gun in the car earlier this week. He added that he had intended to sell the gun, reports state. Police said Birchfield was arrested because she was driving the car.