EVANSTON — An Evanston man was arrested on charges of domestic battery and aggravated assault and battery early on the morning of Monday, July 6, after allegedly hitting his wife in the head with a hammer. John Rasmussen was taken into custody after he reportedly admitted to striking his wife in the head “two or three times.”

According to a police report, Evanston Police Department Officers Zachary Marler and Cody Saloga responded to the Rasmussen home after receiving a medical call for a woman who said she had been struck by an object. Upon arriving at the home, Marler and Saloga found a woman lying in a medical style bed with “a substantial amount of dried blood on her face with a laceration in the middle of her forehead near her hairline.” There was also reportedly dried blood behind the woman’s head on the pillow.

Upon questioning, the woman, April Rasmussen, told officers a hammer must have fallen on her head, although officers could find no shelf or any structure above her the hammer could have fallen from. On further questioning, John Rasmussen, who was in the room, allegedly told officers he had hit his wife with the hammer because he “felt like it” and was “tired” of being her nurse’s aide.

A police report states John Rasmussen told Marler and Saloga he had gotten up that morning, felt like hitting her, gotten the hammer from a closet and struck her as hard as he could two or three times on the top of her head with the head of the hammer. He said he then directed her to call an ambulance and watched as she did so.

The victim was transported to Evanston Regional Hospital for treatment of her injuries, where officers attempted to conduct further questioning. She was reportedly responsive but confused and unable to answer simple questions and did not remember what had happened.

Medical staff reportedly advised law enforcement that she had suffered a scalp laceration and a concussion, although there were no skull fractures or life-threatening injuries. Emergency room staff did not believe her confusion and memory loss were related to the hammer injury.

John Rasmussen was booked into the Uinta County Detention Center to await his court appearance. The Uinta County Attorney’s office has filed charges of aggravated assault and battery and attempted first-degree murder.