By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

KEEGO HARBOR — Police arrested a woman on suspicion of felonious assault with a dangerous weapon March 9 after receiving a report early in the morning that a man had been stabbed in the hand.

Police said the incident allegedly occurred at around 1:30 a.m. March 9 at the Pine Lake Manor Apartments, in the 3200 block of Christopher Lane. Police said a 41-year-old woman was arguing with her live-in 23-year-old boyfriend over car keys, among other topics.

“They had a little squabble last night,” Keego Harbor Police Chief Kenneth Hurst said.

But then the confrontation reportedly took a violent turn. Police reported that the woman went to a bedroom, and her boyfriend held the room’s door open with his foot. Then the woman apparently brandished a black-handled knife, police said.

In the meantime, a 20-year-old man who also lives in the apartment apparently tried to get in between the feuding couple to intervene and break up the argument. But the knife ended up cutting his left hand, police said.

“I guess it bled pretty good,” Hurst said. “It was described (that) there was blood all over the place.”

After the injury took place, the woman reportedly ran to her car.

According to police, the woman told an officer that the injury was accidental and unintentional, adding that it happened while she was swinging the knife backwards.

Hurst said the woman was arrested under the name Dionne Melynn Perryman. But he added that police records show that she had a previous name, so she was charged under the name of Dionne Melynn Griffin. Police also listed another alias, Deitra Marie Griffin.

The stabbed man was reportedly taken to Doctors’ Hospital of Michigan in Pontiac.

The suspect was arraigned March 9 before Judge Kimberly Small in 48th District Court on one charge of felonious assault with a dangerous weapon. If convicted, the assault charge carries a prison sentence of up to four years and/or a fine of up to $2,000, Hurst said.

Bond was set at $20,000 or 10 percent cash surety, and police said the suspect has since posted bond and has been released.

According to the most recent, complete FBI data, Keego Harbor and its population of 2,852 had seven reported violent crimes in 2008, and all of them were aggravated assaults.

Hurst said his police department follows the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office’s domestic assault guidelines. The guidelines recommend that police make an arrest based on a combination of who made first physical contact and who caused the most severe injuries, he said.

The judgment is often dependent on the domestic scenario, he said. “Just because I push you doesn’t mean that you can knock me over the head with a baseball bat,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1058.