DALTON, Ga. — A Dalton man who was accused of biting off a “chunk” of his wife’s face and beating her was indicted by the Whitfield County grand jury.

Santos Romulo Puac-Ramirez, 29, 515 N. Selvidge St.-2, was indicted on two counts of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, cruelty to children in the first degree and battery. Puac-Ramirez has been in the Whitfield County jail without bond since his arrest in May. His next court date is Aug. 20 for arraignment.

Close to midnight on May 17, officers were called to Puac-Ramirez’s apartment on Spencer Street on a domestic disturbance call, according to a Dalton Police Department incident report.

There, officers found Puac-Ramirez’s wife with “severe swelling, laceration and blood covering her face, hands, arms and shirt,” the report said. A 4-year-old child had also been struck, causing the child’s “face to be bloody, as well as dried blood on and around (the child’s) nose, as well as blood on her arms and hands.”

Despite a “strong language barrier” between officers and the victim, the report stated she demonstrated to officers how Puac-Ramirez hit her in the face, head-butted her and bit her cheek under her eye.

“At the spot around her left eye … there was chunk of skin missing and was bleeding,” the officer wrote in the report. “I located the chunk of skin that was missing on the right side of her shirt. (She) suffered severe lacerations to her face and lips, as well as bruising and swelling around her face. She had a golf-ball sized knot on her forehead as well.”

The indictment said Puac-Ramirez “maliciously caused bodily harm … by seriously disfiguring a member of her body.”

A Spanish-speaking officer arrived to help translate. The woman said the incident started when Puac-Ramirez came home after “being out drinking” and found the rest of the family in bed and his dinner sitting out cold. He went to the bedroom and began yelling at his wife, hitting her, wrapping his hands around her neck and choking her. Puac-Ramirez had blood on his nose and lip area, and the wife said that was from where he hit her with his head “several times.”

When officers spoke with Puac-Ramirez he said he didn’t know what happened. As his wife and the child were led to an ambulance, he uttered, “I’m sorry” and “My familia (family in Spanish).”