BRATENAHL, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold and her 30-year-old daughter traded punches during a Thursday night altercation that started after the younger Saffold came home late from a night out, according to records.

The altercation ended with the arrest of attorney Sydney Saffold, 30, who pleaded not guilty to a domestic violence charge Friday morning.

Police records describe both mother and daughter as uncooperative with investigators. Judge Saffold did not want to press charges against her daughter, and refused to sign a written statement that she gave, the records say, although body camera video appears to show the judge signing her statement. The younger Saffold refused to give a statement at all and told police she just wanted to go home, according to the records.

But Bratenahl police arrested Sydney Saffold based on her mother's version of events and "the fear if left alone, the situation would deteriorate and become violent again," according to police records.

Judge Saffold was not in her courtroom Friday morning. Her bailiff declined to comment, and a woman who answered a phone number listed for the judge hung up on a cleveland.com reporter. Sydney Saffold's brother, Jeffrey Saffold, declined to make his sister available for comment.

What few details are available are spelled out in Bratenahl police and Cleveland Municipal Court records.

Sydney Saffold dropped her 3-year-old son off at Judge Saffold's home off Lakeshore Boulevard while the younger Saffold went to "an event."

The daughter returned home later than expected and did not answer phone calls or text messages sent from her mother. She eventually got to her mother's home after 10 p.m.

About 11:45 p.m., Sydney Saffold called police and told them that she was bleeding from her face after a fight with her mother, police records say.

When police got there, the daughter would not tell them what happened and gave officers "very vague" responses to questions, the report says. Police noticed a cut on her nose, and abrasions on her right cheek and neck. She would not tell officers how she was injured, the report says.

She told officers that she worked as a defense attorney and would not be saying much, a police report says.

Sydney Saffold said she wanted to give a written statement, then refused to give one, a Bratenahl police officer wrote in court records. She said she wanted to return to her house in Cleveland Heights, but officers refused to let her leave because she "seemed to be intoxicated," the report says.

Judge Saffold told police that her daughter went into her upstairs bedroom when she got home, and the two got into an argument, the judge told police.

The judge told police that her daughter was drunk. The judge started waving her finger in her daughter's face, and Sydney Saffold punched her mother on the right side of her face, the judge told police.

The judge pushed her daughter to the floor and punched her in the face, she told police.

The two then separated. Sydney walked outside with her son, stood in the driveway and called police, the report says.

Both Sydney Saffold and her mother refused to let police photograph their injuries, the report says. Both also declined medical treatment from EMS.

Judge Saffold provided a written statement that police described as "vague," and that the judge refused to sign, records say. Body camera footage released to cleveland.com Friday appeared to show the judge signing the statement.

Officers noted that the right side of Judge Saffold's face was "slightly discolored and raised near the cheek area," the report says. The cut on Sydney Saffold's nose was visible Friday morning in Cleveland Municipal Court.

Sydney Saffold's attorney, Andy Petropouleas, said in court Friday morning that his client only called police to help her go inside and get her keys so she could go home.

Judge Joseph Zone set Sydney Saffold's bond at $5,000, and ordered her to have no contact with her mother. She posted bond less than an hour after the hearing.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.