Police: Man bites fiance, denies her access to emergency services

A Springfield man who police say left a visible bite mark on his fiancé was released from court after pleading innocent to domestic assault charges on Friday.


http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151019/NEWS02/151019389

Aaron LaFountain

Published October 19, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Police: Man bites fiance, denies her access to emergency services By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield man who police say left a visible bite mark on his fiancé was released from court after pleading innocent to domestic assault charges on Friday. Aaron Lafountain, 26, pleaded innocent to second-degree aggravated domestic assault, which was charged as a felony, since Lafountain has a prior conviction for violating an abuse prevention order. He also pleaded innocent to an accompanying misdemeanor count alleging that he interfered with the putative victim’s access to emergency services. Lafountain was released from the courthouse in White River Junction on pre-trial conditions, including court orders that he stay at least 300 feet away from the alleged victim and her apartment at all times while his cases are pending. In her sworn statement to police, the woman wrote that she became upset with Lafountain because when he came home Thursday evening, she suspected he had been drinking and driving — something which, she wrote, she’d asked him “numerous times” not to do. “I told him if he couldn’t respect my wishes he could get out of my house,” she wrote. “We started arguing and fighting and he grabbed my arm and pushed me into the wall…. he kept blocking the doors so I couldn’t get out. I tried calling 911 but he took the phone away and then punched me.” “I punched him (back). He then bit me on the chest and I hit his arm to have him let go of me,” she continued, adding that Lafountain called her names and said “that he wished I had died when I (overdosed in the past)” and he “flipped my couch over and punched two holes in my walls” and left with her car keys. Springfield Police Officer Steven Neily said that when he and another officer arrived at the residence, “(The woman) showed me a bite mark that had obvious teeth marks in it,” which was near her shoulder, as well as bruises on her back which, Neily wrote in an affidavit filed with the court, were “consistent with her back striking a door casing.” Neily said he called Lafountain who denied assaulting her, claiming he did not know how she got the marks and bruises. “Lafountain advised me he was not going to come back because he knew he was going to be arrested… (he) then hung up the phone,” Neily wrote. Lafountain’s car was pulled over shortly before midnight Thursday and he was taken into custody without incident. Neily wrote that he could smell “a mild odor of intoxicants” on Lafountain’s breath, but Lafountain blew a 0.049 percent blood alcohol level when given a breath test, a figure which is less than Vermont’s legal limit for driving. Neily said that during questioning Lafountain acknowledged the couple had argued because he had been drinking, but Lafountain claimed “(the woman) struck him in the head multiple times and he only grabbed her to stop her from hitting him,” adding that Lafountain denied having bitten her earlier in the evening. Lafountain was convicted in 2010 in Lamoille County of interfering with access to emergency services. He received a 12-to-18-month sentence, all of which was suspended, in connection with that incident.