Donny Aaron had been on the run for nine months before his arrest in Shreveport, LA.
[CW: This article details an alleged domestic assault]
According to Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie, Donny Aaron, the estranged husband and former coach of UFC flyweight Andrea Lee, was arrested in Shreveport, LA on Wednesday. Aaron had been on the run since last August after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of domestic abuse battery and false imprisonment.
The charges against Aaron came after Lee and fellow fighter Andy Nguyen (who was living with Lee and Aaron) told police that Aaron allegedly attacked Lee on August 4th, 2018. Eric Kowal of My MMA News published what is claimed to be the statement Nguyen provided to police about the attack.
Parts of that statement are presented below:
So I opened my door and she (Andrea) runs into her daughter’s room. Donny is trying to burn a cigarette on her arm and her body. She’s yelling to stop trying to burn her. Donny’s dad is the only one helping me. His dad is like 70 or 80 years old. There’s another guy named Kendrick there who is this big strong guy, who wouldn’t get out of his room to help me. He put on his headphones and was like ‘this happens all the time.’
He was trying to choke her, but she was defending herself well. She didn’t get beat up bad. The police did take pictures of marks on her neck. Wasn’t bad this time. No black eyes or anything but he has hit her before. I just wasn’t there. He was my coach and my friend. This was the first time this was in presence and I was not going to let this fly.
According to MMA Junkie, Aaron was released on bond the same day he was booked into Shreveport City Jail.
This was not the first time Aaron has seen the inside of a jail cell. In 2009, Aaron was convicted of negligent homicide. That conviction stemmed from the 2005 shooting death of Ronald Jamison. Jamison was shot by Aaron, who worked as a police officer at the time, after an argument outside of Aaron’s home.
Jamison was sat inside a parked car at the time of the argument and died from multiple gun shots that were fired through the window of his vehicle. Aaron claimed he shot Jamison in self-defense. Jamison was unarmed.
Aaron was found guilty of negligent homicide in a jury trial. He was given a five-year prison sentence. The jury did not find Aaron guilty of manslaughter, which could have carried a 40-year sentence.
While serving time in prison Aaron received tattoos of a Nazi swastika and Schutzstaffel (SS) emblem. The presence of the tattoos were noted by MMA observers in June, 2018.
In response to outrage over the tattoos Aaron claimed he got them to survive during his prison stint. He also stated that he could not cover-up or remove the tattoos. One of the excuses Aaron gave for why he could not cover the tattoos was that it would make him look “even more redneck.”
Support for survivors of domestic violence can be found from the following organizations:
USA – The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Canada – DAWN-RAFH Canada
UK and Ireland – Women’s Aid: 0808-2000-247
Rest of the World – HotPeachPages