Inset: Michael David Schaffer (Fargo Police Department). Background: The Cass County Jail in Fargo, North Dakota (Google Maps).Â
A North Dakota man is accused of choking a woman for roughly 60 seconds and stabbing her with pliers because she was speaking too loudly.
Michael David Schaffer, 36, stands accused of aggravated assault with a weapon and domestic violence assault causing serious bodily injury, according to Cass County jail records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The defendant was booked into jail on Thursday.
It was about 8:20 p.m. that day and Schaffer, a woman, and at least one other person were at an apartment in Fargo, which is located on the eastern side of the Peace Garden State, right on the border with Minnesota. The woman and the other person were speaking, apparently too loudly, or so it seemed to the suspect, police said.
At some point, Schaffer started to break items in the apartment in anger, according to court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KVLY. He then allegedly pushed the woman against a bathroom door and choked her with one hand for approximately a minute.
Someone else reportedly yelled at Schaffer to stop, leading him to grab a pair of pliers, curse, and stab the woman with the item in her right elbow, authorities said, noting that they were called after the incident. Officers with the Fargo Police Department responded to the apartment to find the woman with two cuts to her elbow and redness to her neck and chest.
Schaffer is said to have been found in the entryway to the apartment building after having left the residence and then returned, police said. He denied choking or stabbing the woman, saying she was actually the attacker, according to law enforcement.
The suspect was arrested and placed in the Cass County jail. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, KVLY reported.
