Cathedral City man arrested for allegedly punching wife in face multiple times

A Cathedral City man was arrested today on suspicion of punching his wife in the face several times before she was able to escape and seek help from a convenience store employee.

Joel Flores, 27, was booked on suspicion of false imprisonment, assault on a person with great bodily injury, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse and criminal threats stemming from the alleged early morning assault on his wife in their apartment in the 31000 block of Avenida El Pueblo, according
to Cathedral City Police Department Chief Travis Walker.

Officers responding to a domestic violence report around 2:30 a.m. interviewed the alleged victim at a nearby am/pm store, where she accused her husband of punching her in the face multiple times with their children present, Walker said.

She told officers that Flores held her and the children in the apartment before she managed to escape and make it to the store, where an employee called police on her behalf, Walker said.

It is unclear how many children the couple have, and whether they escaped with their mother, but they were unharmed, according to the chief.

Flores was gone from the apartment when police showed up. Officers arrested him around three hours later about five miles away from his residence, Walker said.

Flores is being held on $1 million bail and is expected in court on Thursday, according to jail records.