Cleaning dispute turns violent

A Post Falls man was arrested last weekend after an argument with his spouse about cleaning the house turned violent.

The man allegedly strangled and beat his wife during an altercation on Feb. 13.

According to a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office report, the woman told deputies she was "nagging" her husband about helping her clean their home. When the man left the room, she followed him and the two continued to argue, she said.

She asked her husband to leave the house. He refused, she said, and she threatened to call the police.

The wife told investigators that her husband punched two holes in a wall, grabbed her by the upper arms, pushed her against the wall and then into a hallway.

She told them her husband placed his left arm around her neck and forcibly held it there while screaming at her.

The woman told deputies that he then began applying pressure to his left arm, causing her to lose the ability to breathe.

She was frightened and bit her husband on the left forearm as hard as she could, the report states.

The woman was then able to break free of the man's grip and scramble to her phone, where she attempted to call 911. However, according to the report, her husband followed her and began wrestling the phone away from her.

Unable to call 911, the woman told deputies she attempted to grab her children and leave the residence - only to have her exit blocked by her husband.

Eventually the husband left the home and a relative picked up the woman and her children.

The husband was arrested Saturday for outstanding warrants and taken to the Kootenai County jail where a deputy questioned him about the previous night.

The husband said, according to the report, that his wife "had been extremely mad when she came home and he had not cleaned the house." He also alleged that the woman bit him on the left arm before he left the home.

The deputy noted that the location of a bite mark on the man's arm was close to his body and "was a very awkward position to get randomly bitten in."

The husband remained adamant that his wife had bitten him numerous times. But according to the report, he was unable to show the deputy any marks or scars to prove his allegations.

The husband allegedly told investigators that he had grabbed his wife by the upper arms "because she was crazy."

The man was charged with two counts of domestic battery with a child present, destruction of a telecommunication device, and strangulation.