The former commander of the Georgia State Patrol's Milledgeville post now faces a domestic violence charge after an incident early Sunday.
Blake Swicord was charged with battery, a misdemeanor, according to Major Scott Deason of the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office.
According to an incident report, Swicord's girlfriend contacted a friend around 2:30 a.m. Sunday to say that he had struck her in the face while they were driving home in his car.
The report says the two were drinking at a friend's house and argued on the way home.
She says she began kicking Swicord in the car, and he pulled over, began hitting her in the head and hit her nose. She was bleeding heavily in the car, the report says.
Officers said the girlfriend's face and nose were swollen, and there was blood on her clothes. EMTs said she may have suffered a broken nose and eye socket, but she declined medical attention, the report says.
Swicord came to the Baldwin Sheriff's office about three hours later to be interviewed and was arrested and booked into the county jail. He was released on bond, Deason said.
Swicord, former commander of the state patrol's Post 33 in Milledgeville, was suspended in March and fired in November.
In an report on the investigation, the state patrol claimed that Swicord had a longtime friendship and business partnership with a convicted felon.
Swicord also sold handguns to the man, Eugene Britt III, the report says, but concluded that Swicord did not break any laws or state patrol policies.
They said Swicord took money to work security for the Luke Bryan Farm tour against his bosses' orders, then lied about that when questioned.
Swicord allegedly used his state patrol cell phone to send or receive inappropriate, sexually explicit messages and photos.
And the report says he asked a Tybee Island officer to "fix" a ticket for a female friend.
Swicord appealed his firing to a state patrol lieutenant colonel, who upheld his firing.
