Couple arrested for assault after fight leads to lost fingertip
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 17, 2017 1:07 PM
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Full SizeA couple is facing several felony charges after one pepper-sprayed a man in the face and another bit his fingertip off after an altercation at a local bar, according to a press release from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Yelson Estrada Baca, 19, and Genesis Juliet Herrera, 21, both of 108 Quaker Drive, are each charged with felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury, felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle, larceny, possession of stolen goods and injury to personal property.
Baca got into an altercation at a local bar with 26-year-old Hermino Elizalde the first weekend of March, according to the sheriff's office.
Then, on March 6, Elizalde was driving down U.S. 117 in Mar-Mac and noticed another car in the lane beside him trying to get his attention.
Elizalde told authorities he recognized the man in the car as Baca, and began to speed up to put distance between himself and the car Baca was in, the release said.
Maj. Tom Effler with the sheriff's office said authorities think the couple just happened across Elizalde.
"We have no reason to think they tracked him down," Effler said. "We think they just ran across him driving down the highway."
Regardless, the couple continued following him and he pulled off into the Five Points Food Mart. When he parked his car, the couple pulled up beside him, the release said. Then, Baca and Herrera both got out of their car and began arguing with Elizalde, the release said.
During the argument Herrera pepper-sprayed him, and as Elizalde tried to get back in his car both Baca and his girlfriend began attacking him, the release said.
While the couple was assaulting him, one of them bit his left ring finger fingertip off.
Effler said he did not know which person actually bit the man's fingertip off.
As a result of the assault, not only did Elizalde lose his fingertip, the driver's side mirror of his car was damaged and the couple stole his keys so he could not escape, according to the sheriff's office.
Baca and Herrera were arrested Thursday.
Baca was given a $30,000 secured bond on the charges, while Herrera was given a $8,000 secured bond.
Both were put in the custody of the Wayne County Detention Center.