Winthrop police have arrested a local man on an aggravated assault charge after he allegedly attacked two people early Monday morning, a 27-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy.
Brian Diaz, 23, is accused of breaking two of the toddler’s ribs and using a knife to slash the woman’s right thigh, according to court documents.
Police arrested Diaz after receiving a 911 call early Monday morning from an apartment at 81 Bowdoin St., they said in a news release Tuesday night.
They charged Diaz with aggravated assault involving domestic violence, a felony. He was taken to the Kennebec County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. If released, he wouldn’t be allowed to contact the woman or the child.
After the altercation, the woman and boy were taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, then to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
The toddler had two broken ribs and “many other facial injuries,” but the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, according to a probable cause affidavit by Officer Timothy Falvey, of the Winthrop Police Department. The woman suffered cuts on her right thigh and her right hand.
On Monday, prosecutors filed a complaint charging Diaz with aggravated assault, a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a $20,000 fine. The complaint also charges Diaz with assault on a child less than 6 years old, a less severe class C felony.
During Diaz’s initial court appearance Monday, he offered no answer to the charges, according to a clerk at the Capital Judicial Center.
The Kennebec Journal does not identify victims of domestic violence.
The medical condition of the boy and the woman was not available Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson at Maine Medical Center said the hospital has no information about the woman and that it can’t comment on whether the boy is a patient there.
In court documents, police said Diaz and the woman had been in a domestic relationship for several months and that he was angry about an “apparent break-up.”
They had an argument Sunday, but both told police that it didn’t turn physical at that point.
At some point, Diaz left the apartment, then returned late Sunday or early Monday, according to Falvey’s affidavit. Then, around 5 a.m. Monday, he allegedly attacked the woman and the boy.
The woman told police that he slapped her face, grabbed her around the neck and used a yellow utility knife to slash her right thigh as she struggled with him. At some point, she also suffered a cut on her right hand. After the woman went the bathroom, she could hear Diaz allegedly enter a separate bedroom and start hitting the boy, she told police.
Later, police found the knife and dried blood marks that supported the woman’s account, Falvey said.
Police initially arrested Diaz around 5:49 a.m. Monday after they received a call from the Bowdoin Street apartment that ended abruptly.
When Falvey went to the apartment, he saw no signs that anyone had been injured, and no one mentioned the alleged assaults, he said in the affidavit. But there was an outstanding warrant for Diaz’s arrest related to unpaid fines for an prior theft charge, so Falvey started taking him to jail.
While they were en route, the woman called police to report the alleged assault on the boy. When Falvey asked Diaz about the allegation, he initially admitted to having an argument with the woman but denied that an assault had taken place and started to cry, according to the affidavit.
Then, Falvey continued, “I arrived at the jail and asked him again if an assault had taken place, involving a child. He stated that he may have played a little rough, but no assault took place. He was crying and stating that it does not matter what he says, because she will claim it happened. He gave no further statement.”
When Falvey later spoke with the woman, she said that she was too scared to mention the alleged assaults when he first arrived at the apartment.
Police still are investigating the case.
Falvey also said that the state Department of Health and Human Services “is involved in this case as well” and has “been contacted by other concerned adults, prior to the incidents in this affidavit.”
A spokeswoman for the state agency said she could not confirm or deny its involvement in the case. She pointed to legislation that keep records of child protective cases confidential.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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