Police: Victim May Require Plastic Surgery After Bite Assault

A Blaine woman has been charged with assault in Dakota County after police say she bit her victim’s face deeply enough to require plastic surgery to repair the wound.

Jartu Cherly Garnett, 20, faces a felony charge of third-degree assault, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, Inver Grove Heights police were called to an apartment on Audubon Avenue East just after 4 a.m. on July 2 to investigate reports of a loud party.

When they arrived, police found the victim, who had two large bite marks on her face, both of them bleeding, the complaint says. A bite between her eyes was particularly deep, police said.

The victim, who also had bite marks on the fingers of both hands, was crying, and told police that Garnett had attacked her, according to the complaint. The victim was unable to straighten her fingers and complained of pain in her forehead; she was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The victim told police that she and Garnett were friends and had been “talking about their problems” when Garnett became angry, jumped on her and began biting her fingers and her face, according to the complaint.

The women’s boyfriends eventually separated the two, who were rolling around on the floor during the struggle, the complaint says.

Police found Garnett sitting in a car near the apartment. When she saw officers approaching, she got out and began walking away quickly, the complaint said. She stopped when police ordered her to do so, according to the complaint.

Garnett told police that the victim became angry with her and punched her first, and she “simply swung back,” according to the complaint. She denied biting the victim and told police the victim might have bitten herself, the complaint says.

Police learned later that one of the bites on the victim’s face was so deep that doctors were unable to repair it, and that she had to meet with a plastic surgeon, according to the complaint.

Garnett was released from jail on her promise to make all court appearances. An omnibus hearing in her case is scheduled for Sept. 26 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.