BANGOR, Maine — A North Anson man accused of biting off another man’s ear during a fight on Oct. 2 at an apartment complex on Hammond Street made his first appearance at the Penobscot Judicial Center on Tuesday by video conference from the Penobscot County Jail.
Bail for Casey Cole, 27, who was arrested Thursday without incident, was set at $500 cash.
Marianne Lynch, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, told District Court Judge John Lucy on Tuesday that the victim’s ear was recovered but could not be reattached by doctors.
Cole remained Tuesday night at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post bail.
Cole is charged with aggravated assault, a Class B crime, and assault, a Class D crime.
He allegedly was visiting a friend at the Bangor Efficiency Apartments when the fight broke out about 11:20 p.m., according to the court affidavit filed by Bangor police Detective Tim Shaw.
The friend is not being named by the Bangor Daily News because he has not been charged with a crime.
The alleged victim told police that he and his wife had been sitting in front of their apartment “drinking and arguing a little,” when Cole, whose name he did not know, and Cole’s friend stopped by and “started being belligerent with them.” The man who lost his ear said that he invited the pair “into the apartment for a drink to defuse the situation,” the affidavit stated.
When that did not work, the victim allegedly asked Cole and his friend to leave.
“He stated that they became very upset and started yelling at him getting in his face,” Shaw wrote of his interview with the victim the day after the fight. “He stated that they began pushing each other, and this led to him fighting the two of them at the top of the stairs.”
The victim allegedly told the detective that Cole “bit his ear and ripped it off,” then, ran down the stairs and out of of the apartment. The victim allegedly told Shaw that he ran after Cole but the defendant ran out of the parking lot and he lost him. The ear was located on the ground outside the apartment.
The man who lost his ear told the detective that he “still had the portion of his ear that was bitten off in his freezer and that he didn’t get rid of it because he couldn’t cope with losing it right now,” the affidavit said.
Shaw took the ear into evidence.
After no one in the apartment complex identified Cole by his full name, the detective searched for the name of the suspect’s friend on Facebook. The detective found Cole listed as “friend” of the man he’d visited.
A criminal background check revealed Cole’s North Anson address.
Cole was not asked to enter pleas Tuesday because he has not yet been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury. He is next due in court on Dec. 15.
Through attorney-of-the-day Dennis Hamrick, Cole said that he had acted in self-defense but did not admit to biting the victim’s ear.
Through Hamrick, Cole also said that he could not afford any cash bail because he did not have a job. Cole said that he cared for his elderly grandmother in exchange for room and board at her home in North Anson.
Cole faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000 if convicted on the Class B assault charge.