Accounts of fatal fight are disputed

The longtime girlfriend of a man jailed Thursday over a fatal fight said the victim’s account of the brawl — written two days before a hemorrhage killed him — doesn’t tell the full story.

Authorities charged Russell “Rusty” Huntley, 24, of Verona, with manslaughter in the death of Chad Fields, 26. Authorities said Fields died from injuries Huntley inflicted in an altercation earlier this month in a Dollar General parking lot.

Huntley’s girlfriend, Starr Burke, 23, worries she’ll be the only witness who can defend him in the face of a possible 10-year prison sentence, she said.

“I’m sorry it all happened. It could have been prevented,” Burke said Friday. “Russell is a loving father. He would never intentionally hurt somebody like this.”

Months of squabbling and near-fights culminated Oct. 8 in a brawl in the Dollar General lot in Verona. Fields died Oct. 10 of brain hemorrhaging.

Fields and his wife, Katherine, who filed assault charges, claimed Huntley attacked first, hitting Fields with a can of chili, then slamming his head into the store’s brick wall. Katherine Fields said her husband defended himself with a pipe.

Burke acknowledged that Huntley slammed Fields’ head into the wall, but claimed Fields started the brawl, attacking with the pipe.

“Russell was covered in blood,” she said. “All of his clothes, his face, his neck ... Russell was defending himself.”

Augusta County authorities, Burke and Katherine Fields would not say why the men fought, but said the pair long had been alienated and had threatened each other, most recently in the parking lot before fists flew.

Burke said the Fields and his wife left the store after the threats, then drove back. Katherine Fields said they had forgotten cat food.

Authorities charged Huntley after receiving autopsy results.

Like Katherine Fields, Burke said the fight never should have happened.

“It’s both of their faults,” she said. “I feel really bad because I don’t wish that on anybody.”