A Corbin man is facing one count of first-degree assault for allegedly biting off the tip of his girlfriend’s finger during an alcohol-fueled domestic dispute on Christmas Eve.
Corbin Police Capt. Rob Jones, public affairs officer, said Scott Roberts, 46, and Krista Pate, had been celebrating the holiday at Pate’s mother’s home on Scenic View Drive when they began arguing.
Jones said it is unknown what the couple had been arguing about, but alcohol was a factor in the incident.
From the Whitley County Detention Center Tuesday, Roberts told WYMT Mountain News he was drunk when he and Pate were fighting and that he regrets the incident.
Police were called to the scene when someone at the home called Whitley County 9-1-1 but hung up before speaking to dispatchers.
Pate met police at the door about 11 p.m., telling them that Roberts choked her and then bit off her finger.
“She was trying to push me away,” Roberts told WYMT Mountain News Tuesday. “Her finger was in my mouth…Then I must have clamped down and she jerked her hand away and the tip of her finger came off.”
When Roberts came to the door, officers arrested him.
Roberts is being held in the Whitley County Detention Center on a $75,000 cash bond.
He told WYMT’s Ashley Reynolds the incident has changed his attitude toward alcohol.
I was raised up in church,” Roberts said. “I’ve gotten away from that…I can guarantee you this… From this day forward I will be in church ever chance I get. I will not touch another drink of alcohol.”
Pate was taken to Baptist Regional Medical Center where she was treated and released.
