Another nominee for News of the Weird: When all else fails, blame Obama

John Henry Shiffner, 18, of Century, Fla., blamed his battery arrest for allegedly attacking his pregnant girlfriend on President Barack Obama, telling a sheriff’s deputy that, “Obama said cops always listen to women.”

He is facing charges of aggravated battery and disorderly intoxication for the Oct. 19 incident in Escambia County. The arrest report accuses Shiffnerof “intentionally striking Lakesha Tolbert (his pregnant girlfriend) [and] causing a disturbance in a public place while being intoxicated.”

Shiffner is described in the report as “very agitated.” He was “continuously [pacing] back and forth cursing out loud saying, ‘I don’t give a f—.’” When a sheriff’s deputy attempted to calm the 18-year-old down, the deputy detected “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.”

Shiffner’s pregnant girlfriend agreed to take him home and tried to calm him down, but Tolbert claimed her boyfriend pushed her out of her car and she wound up on the ground, according to the arrest report. Tolbert, who said she was two and half months pregnant, said her boyfriend was aware of the pregnancy when he allegedly battered her. She told sheriff’s deputies that Shiffner was drinking the whole day and was upset over a death in his family.

Shiffner denied the allegations to a sheriff’s deputy and “then began rambling on about how Obama is right,” according to the report.

“Obama said cops always listen to women,” the 18-year-old allegedly said. Shiffner was then taken to the Escambia County Jail on $1,000 bond.