Man arrested for assaulting mother [UPDATED]

Published 11:06am Monday, April 25, 2011 Updated 11:57am Tuesday, April 26, 2011

A Dalton woman was taken by helicopter to Sanford Hospital in Fargo on Saturday after her son allegedly attacked her and gave her a serious head wound. The son was arrested this morning.

Barbara Howard, 68, was taken to Lake Region Hospital and then transported to Fargo after Otter Tail County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from her home at 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office. When deputies arrived at Howard’s home, they found her with a severe head injury caused by a “sharp-edged object.” The sheriff’s office has not released the kind of weapon used.

Deputies also found her son, James Howard, 46, also of Dalton, at the residence. James was suffering from a cut on his neck that he allegedly told deputies was self-inflicted. He also was taken to Lake Region Hospital.

After an investigation, the sheriff’s office arrested James for first degree assault today at 9:20 a.m. Attempted murder charges may also be pursued by the county attorney’s office.

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  1. Katie Loosbrock

    Most frustrating part, is the Sherriff’s department kept all the neighbors in the dark. Having to keep kids in, all day Sunday, because we had no clue what had happened, only that their was police tape up…and ambulances were called. It would have been nice to know they had someone in custody…for a piece of mind. Plus, it says he was arrested, why isn’t he on the Jail website?

  2. Holly Olsonmunk

    So the cops had someone in custody – at the time, they did not know if it was the work of one person or several. 20/20 hindsight is prety clear, no? And you had the major inconvenience of keeping the kids in the house for a day – get over yourself. And he’s not on the jail website because he’s under guard in the hospital.

  3. Kristi Heikes

    Katie, I fully agree with you! Being concerned for your childrens safety and your own is not being nosy! And Holly I am assume you don’t know Katie because she is the least self-centered person I know…no need to say rude things when she is just being a Mom making sure her kids were safe. This article was published on Monday, this incident happened on Saturday, so no she didn’t know if someone was in custody or not! Her family should feel safe enough to be in their own yard and seeing police tape at the neighbors with no details..she obviously was worried!

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