PARIS — Officials said a Hiram man remained in jail Thursday night after being charged with hoisting his girlfriend up by her neck and cutting off her breathing.

Steven Paul Nelson, 30, of Aaron Drive was arrested Monday by Maine State Police on charges of felony assault and violating conditions of release. He was transported to the Oxford County Jail in Paris.

According to an affidavit by Maine State Police Trooper Gregory Tirado, police received a call from Steven’s father that his son had “gone crazy” and was assaulting his girlfriend.

According to the affidavit, the girlfriend told Tirado that Nelson drank a few beers and became violently emotional over the death of a family member. She told police Nelson threw her against a bed and put his hands around her neck, pushed her against a wall and hoisted her up by her neck so she couldn’t breathe. 

The woman was sobbing and crying and after initially agreeing to write a witness statement about the incident, she declined, Tirado reported. 

“(She) stated she did not want him to go to jail because she loved him and she decided not to fill out the statement,” the trooper wrote in his affidavit.

Nelson made an initial court appearance Wednesday and was not able to post $500 cash bail. Therefore, he was transported to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, because Oxford County could not hold him more than 72 hours, a corrections officer said. Nelson is also facing an unrelated charge in York County, he said.

ccrosby@sunjournal.com