Mother of James Fields called authorities for help with violent son

8/14/2017

Samantha Bloom, Mr. Fields’ mother.

FLORENCE, Ky. — Samantha Bloom has a history of being fearful of her teenage son.

The mother of James A. Fields, Jr., 20, once locked herself in a bathroom when her then 13-year-old son threatened to beat her up at their Florence, Ky., condo, according to a police call for service report.

There were also times when her son walked around with a knife, and hit her in the head and threatened to beat her up.

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Mr. Fields is accused of ramming his vehicle into a protest crowd during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., killing one and injuring others. He most recently had been living at an apartment in Toledo, while Ms. Bloom also was in Lucas County but living in Monclova Township.

A list of calls for service from Ms. Bloom’s then Kentucky residence were provided to The Blade Monday by the area’s Public Safety Communications Center, which handles calls for the police and sheriff’s office. In all nine cases, authorities were dispatched to a Mistflower Lane condo, where Mr. Fields lived with his mother. The incidents were generated from a report from Jan. 1, 2010 into 2016.

The juvenile’s name was blocked from all reports.

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On Nov. 20, 2010, Ms. Bloom called 911 to say her 13-year-old son took her phone, “smacked” her in the head, and covered her mouth with his hands. Ms. Bloom told the dispatcher she was in a wheelchair.

An officer from the Florence Police Department responded to the incident.

While locked in the bathroom, Ms. Bloom said the incident began after she told the boy to stop playing video games. He threatened to beat her up, the report indicated.

Ms. Bloom told the dispatcher she was afraid of her son.

Not a year later, on Oct. 9, 2011, police responded after Ms. Bloom told another person her son was being threatening toward her. That person called authorities and Florence police again responded.

“Mother is in a wheelchair and doesn’t feel in control of the situation and is scared,” the report stated.

Less than a month later, another person also called police because Ms. Bloom’s 14-year-old son was threatening her and spitting in her face. In the same report, Ms. Bloom indicated to authorities that her son recently stood by her with a 12-inch knife.

“He didn’t threaten with knife, but scared mom to death not knowing if he was going to do something,” the report stated.

The juvenile was arrested, according to the report.

Police responded after the boy went missing in February 2011. Boone County Sheriff’s deputies also responded to the residence to serve summonses on three occasions.

A person from the residence also called police in February 2013 regarding a vehicle that was illegally parked in a handicapped spot.

Ms. Bloom told The Blade Saturday night, after the incident in Virginia, that her son had told her about the rally he was attending, but he didn’t offer details about its extremist nature.

“I thought it had something to do with Trump,” she said at the time.

The two moved to the Toledo area about a year ago, the mother previously said.

Attempts were made to reach Kentucky neighbors of Mr. Fields and Ms. Bloom.

The mother and son lived at a Florence apartment complex on Red Mile Trail Drive prior to the later residence, though calls for service were not provided for that location.

A neighbor in that location on Sunday said he did not know the family as he had not lived there for that long, like the other residents in neighboring apartments.

Mr. Fields’ juvenile record in Florence was not made available Monday. According to a juvenile court clerk, a juvenile’s record must be authorized by that person to be released to another.

Recordings of the 911 calls were not available, according to a clerk at the communications center.

The clerk said if a person was cited or arrested, additional information would be provided through a police report. The Blade submitted separate public records requests Monday regarding incidents involving Mr. Fields and Ms. Bloom. The City of Florence has up to three days to respond to the request, according to city officials.

Florence police Capt. Tom Grau declined to comment Monday.

Contact Allison Reamer at areamer@theblade.com, 419-724-6506 or on Twitter @AllisonRBlade.