Fall River Man Imprisoned for Attacking Mother of His Children

A 36-year-old Fall River man who strangled and assaulted the mother of his own children and violently assaulted a correctional officer will spend the next four years in state prison.

Taurian Rogers pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to two counts of aggravated assault and battery,  one count of strangulation, one count of assault to maim, one count of assault and battery of a correctional officer, and one count of assault and battery on a public employee with intent to disarm, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

The charges stemmed from a collection of incidents that included violent assaults against his girlfriend and then against a jail guard.

In October of 2017, while locked up at New Bedford’s Ash Street facility, Rogers, who had been chastised for making a disturbance in his cell, punched a correctional officer in the face, knocked him to the ground and attempted to grab his pepper spray, the Bristol County DA said.

Two months earlier, Rogers had pushed his girlfriend to the floor of her Fall River apartment and began strangling her, prosecutors said. The woman, who had been sitting with her infant child, did not lose consciousness, but "saw stars," she told police.

When a teenage child of the couple entered the room, the defendant stopped the attack and the woman ran out of the house with her infant. An electrician called the police after seeing the distraught victim with injuries to her neck. The defendant was apprehended by Fall River Police as he drove off from the apartment, the DA's office said.

The woman told police about prior abuse at the hands of the defendant. She signed a medical release from St. Anne’s Hospital, where she had received prior treatment.

Police say they learned during the investigation that on June 21, 2017, Rogers had punched the woman in the face, breaking her orbital bone, which needed reconstructive surgery. They also found that in May of that year, he had thrown her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly, causing bruised ribs and a broken elbow.

Rogers' sentence of four years in state prison followed by two years of probation was imposed by Judge William Sullivan. The case was prosecuted by ADA Patrick Driscoll.

“The defendant continued his history of assaultive behavior by punching a correctional officer who was just trying to do his job, and violently beating his girlfriend on multiple occasions," DA Quinn said. "This conduct is simply not acceptable. The defendant is a clear danger to the community and needs to be kept off the street, and monitored upon his release.”