APPLETON, Maine — A 30-year-old Northport man is being held at the Knox County Jail after allegedly spitting on an infant and then putting the baby’s mother in a chokehold.
Ryan S. Flannery was arrested Friday evening by Knox County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Patrick Polky and charged with felony domestic violence assault and felony domestic violence on a child younger than 6 years old. Flannery was taken to the Knox County Jail in Rockland.
Justice Daniel Billings set bail at $5,000 cash during Flannery’s initial court appearance Monday afternoon in Knox County Unified Court.
When Polky arrived at the home in Appleton on the county line with Waldo County, Flannery denied he had done anything wrong and said the woman had broken out a window in his vehicle, according to an affidavit filed by the deputy. The officer said Flannery appeared intoxicated with alcohol on his breath and bloodshot eyes.
The woman told Polky that Flannery had come home upset and as she was trying to get a bottle ready for her infant, he spat on the child out of anger, according to the affidavit. The woman said she then tried to leave and was attempting to move a child restraint seat from his truck to her vehicle when he put her in a chokehold, according to the affidavit.
A neighbor who witnessed the chokehold came over and yelled at him to stop, and Flannery did so, but then he also yelled obscenities at the neighbor and said to not get involved, according to police. The alleged victim said she broke a window in Flannery’s truck when he tried to stop her from leaving, according to the affidavit.
When officers tried to arrest Flannery, it took several minutes of negotiations as he was holding an older daughter at the time, according to the affidavit.
The assault charge against Flannery involving the woman is a felony level offense because he had a domestic violence assault conviction in March 2012 out of Waldo County, according to court records.