A Havre man is facing felony assault charges after he allegedly bit off his girlfriend’s finger.
Jonathan Seaton is scheduled to appear for his arraignment in Hill County District Court on Oct. 21, where he will plead guilty or not guilty to felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor partner or family member assault.
Here’s what happened, according to charging documents:
Jonathan Seaton (Hill County Detention Center booking photo)
On Sept. 16, police officers responded to Northern Montana Hospital after a woman who’d had her finger bitten off asked to speak to police.
The woman told police she was at home with her boyfriend and brother when they began fighting. She stepped in to separate them, and after doing so she went in to hug Seaton, her boyfriend. Her middle finger landed in his mouth and Seaton bit down on it, she said.
“Seaton then grabbed her hand and pulled it in the opposite direction while biting down on the finger, causing the tip of her finger to be separated down to the bone,” the court charging document says.
The officers spoke to the woman’s doctor.
The doctor said there was no way to close the woman’s injury because there wasn’t enough tissue remaining. The doctor said they may need to file down the part of the bone close to the injury, meaning the victim will lose her fingernail.
Police found Seaton and spoke to him.
Seaton told police he fought with his girlfriend the previous night. He added that his girlfriend is the one who started the fight and asked why she wasn’t being arrested.
Seaton has a prior partner or family member assault from 2015.
Seaton, who was listed in the Hill County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond Friday, is no longer listed as being in jail.
Email Paul Dragu at [email protected]
- More