SAN ANTONIO, April 4 (UPI) -- A San Antonio man who allegedly padlocked his wife to a 30-foot dog chain in the backyard was in jail himself Friday.
One end of the chain was padlocked to 45-year-old Patricia Thomason's neck, and the other end was attached to a car where her husband Jerry Thomason, 41, was sleeping when police arrested him Thursday at their home.
Firefighters used bolt cutters to remove the chain that was wrapped around the woman's neck and padlocked. She was treated and released later at a hospital. Police are not sure how long she had been chained up.
Neighbors said the bizarre situation began when the woman told her husband she wanted to leave him.
"He also had her in a cage, chained up in a cage, because he didn't want her to leave" neighbor Yolanda Esquivel told WOAI radio.
Another neighbor who asked that his name not be used said Thomason had "said before he'd keep her in a cage if he had to."
A neighbor had alerted police early Thursday that Patricia Thomason had a chain around her neck when the couple dropped off their two sons, ages 11 and 14, at a school. The arrest came later in the day at the couple's home.
Thomason's children were staying with their maternal grandmother, police said.
Jerry Thomason was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with bodily injury, and unlawful restraint. His bond was set at $35,000.
Police said the couple had been married for 15 years.
