By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A fight last week at a Peabody residence resulted in police taking a 16-year-old girl to St. Luke Hospital’s emergency room but not in the arrest of a 57-year-old man who allegedly beat the teen.

Peabody Police Chief Bruce Burke said the alleged assailant, Steven K. Ball, was a “significant other” to the girl’s mother.

An argument between the girl and another family member touched off the altercation, Burke said. Police were summoned at 10 p.m. Aug. 8 and took the girl to the hospital.

Burke said he didn’t know why Ball wasn’t taken to jail.

“I was not on the scene,” he said.

The girl was placed into protective custody, and Ball was required to move out of Peabody. Burke said he didn’t know where Ball moved. The girl was returned to her family.

Although Ball was not arrested, police filed a complaint with the county attorney’s office, and charges were filed four days later.

Ball formally was charged with abuse of a child.

Ball has previous charges in other counties.

On Aug. 12, 2016, Ball was charged in Butler County with harassment by telephone, making a phone call with the intent to abuse, threaten or harass. He made a diversion agreement in Nov. 21, 2017, in that case.

He was charged May 26, 2006, in Butler County with speeding and failing to wear a seat belt. He pleaded guilty to those charges a month later.

Ball also has criminal history of driving under the influence, according to the Marion County attorney’s office, but those cases do not appear on the court system’s public search portal.

No hearing date has been set and court records do not show an arrest warrant for Ball. He remains free without bond.