Family matter turns violent

Sunday evening was eventful for the Oroville Police Department, which responded to a call from a 21-year-old man who claimed he’d been kidnapped and assaulted by his own father and his friends.

Police met the victim in the Thermalito area and noticed lacerations on his face, where he said he’d been hit with a rock, according to an Oroville PD press release. He further explained he’d been kidnapped at gunpoint, struck in the face and driven off in a truck. He believed it was because his father didn’t approve of the race of his girlfriend. The young man and his father are both white, police said.

Oroville police later located the man’s 38-year-old father, James Griffin, at his Oroville home and arrested him, taking a loaded .22 caliber handgun into evidence. The police are working to track down his possible accomplices, known only by their first names, Bo and Jesse.