Inset: Crystal Dean (Cass County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Arbors apartments in Fargo, N.D., where the alleged attack took place (Google Maps).
A North Dakota woman is in jail after police said she threw scalding hot water on her neighbor, causing severe burns.
Crystal Dean, 25, was charged with aggravated assault in connection with an incident that took place at The Arbors apartment complex in Fargo, North Dakota. According to a police report obtained by local NBC affiliate KVLY, officers from the Fargo Police Department responded to the apartment at 8:41 a.m. on Sunday. Police said someone who lived there said Dean threw a pot of scalding water on another woman.
Police said the victim told them she and Dean were on the third floor. Dean was carrying a pot and a bucket and started approaching her. Dean allegedly asked the woman, "Are you gonna run?" before the woman tried to get away.
According to the report, the woman had just reached the bottom of the staircase when Dean allegedly threw the hot water from the pot at her, burning her neck, shoulders, and back. Dean then allegedly ran down to the woman and grabbed her by the shirt. The woman was able to get away and call for help.
When police arrived and questioned Dean, she told officers that the alleged attack was in retaliation for a similar attack, purportedly carried out by the victim. Dean told police that the woman came to her apartment, banged on the door, and called her names before throwing water in Dean's face.
Dean denied that the water in the pot was scalding hot, saying it came from the tap. Police described the burns seen on the victim as severe, and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Dean was booked into the Cass County Jail, where she is still in custody. She is scheduled to appear in court on July 31.