Background: The residence in Memphis, Tenn., where authorities say the attack occurred (Google Maps). Inset: Khy'ric Mason (Shelby County Sheriff's Office).
A man in Tennessee is accused of strangling his girlfriend who was trying to break up with him, biting a hole in her cheek before her 9-year-old son came to her rescue.
Khy'ric Mason, 27, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping, theft of property, and domestic assault causing bodily harm. He is being held in the Shelby County Detention Center on $100,000 bond.
On Monday at about 3:20 p.m., Mason was with his 25-year-old girlfriend at a residence in northeast Memphis. They — along with her son — were sitting inside her Hyundai Elantra, which was parked in front of the house.
According to an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, the woman said her phone "started to ring," and the defendant asked her who was calling. "When she didn't answer his question, he got upset."
Mason reportedly told the child to leave the car and go inside the house "so that he could speak" with the woman. The boy did what he was told, and Mason locked the car's doors, police said.
The defendant, who was sitting in the passenger seat, reached over "and started to strangle" the woman, the court filing states. Authorities said he "placed both hands" around her neck "and started to pull and twist her neck in attempt to try and break her neck."
While doing so, the defendant apparently "positioned his body in the back seat" as he was "trying to pull her into the back seat by her neck." She kicked the steering wheel horn for help, but Mason "pulled her to the back seat, still holding on to her neck."
She kept fighting, biting his finger, "but he would not let go of her neck," the affidavit states. As he "continued to strangle her," he allegedly "bit a hole out" of her left cheek.
The woman's attempts for help did appear to work, though. Her son "was able to get the passenger side door and open it." He was "trying to help his mother escape from the vehicle," authorities stated.
As the woman screamed, several of Mason's family members came to stop the alleged attack. Mason's family members separated the defendant and the victim, and Mason drove off in her car "without permission."
The Memphis Police Department was called to the area, and officers noticed "abrasions and bruises" around the victim's chest and neck. She also had "a bite wound to the face with missing tissue" on her left cheek.
The victim identified Mason as the alleged attacker, and he was later arrested and booked into jail. Local ABC affiliate WATN reported that Mason was a firefighter with the Memphis Fire Department.
The outlet also reported that the alleged attack occurred after the victim broke up with Mason.
The defendant had a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday.