WESTFIELD – A young man who attempted to help friends involved in an argument early Sunday morning ended up in Baystate Medical Center with a bloody wound to his neck.
Officers Joel Christofori and Christopher Coach responded to an aborted 911 call in which the dispatcher heard persons screaming in the background and report that they found a male party holding a bloody tee shirt to his neck.
Christofori summoned an ambulance after finding that the man had suffered a gash on his neck.
Coach later described the wound as “a wide open slash wound that appeared to be from the bottom to the top of his left facial cheek.”
Coach reported, in a statement in support of an application for a criminal complaint, that the victim said that he had been walking past a house where friends lived when he saw his friends arguing with a group of persons. The victim said that he “tried to be the peace maker” but was struck by a female party with a Corona beer bottle, inflicting the wound.
He was transported to Baystate Medical Center by Westfield Fire Department ambulance where, after he was treated for his injuries, he was released.
The other patrol officers were advised to be on the lookout for the suspect, who was believed to be blood splattered, and the group of young adults she was with.
In less than ten minutes, State Trooper Sean Hoye from the Russell barracks reported that he had detained a blood splattered young woman with other contemporaries on Elm Street near Chapel Street. Two witnesses to the incident were transported there and both positively identified the woman as the person who had struck the victim with the beer bottle.
The suspect identified as Elizabeth N. Schnaible, 21, of 48 Rockne Ave., Dorchester, told police that she had been drinking Corona beer earlier and acknowledged that she had been involved in an argument but she denied striking anybody.
The woman then asked Coach if she should speak with a lawyer and he asked no further questions.
A male party with her, who also had blood on his person, declined to speak with officers but was found to be highly intoxicated and was placed in protective custody.
A second male party in the group had blood on his arms and identified himself as the suspect’s boyfriend. He too declined to make a statement and the officers photographed the blood on his person. Although he told officers that he would come to the station to speak with them, he did not do so.
Two young women with the group denied any knowledge of the incident.
Schnaible was arraigned Monday on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and was released on her personal recognizance pending a hearing Dec. 11.
Judge Rita S. Koenigs ordered that Schnaible stay at least 100 yards away from the victim and ordered that she stay out of Westfield except as ordered by the probation department. She also ordered that Schnaible remain drug and alcohol free and be subject to testing.
