Assault leads to man’s arrest

A Bloomington man was socializing with a woman at a party sometime Friday evening when the two decided to take the conversation into a bedroom.

The friendly interaction took a violent turn when the two were laying on a bed, and the man, Neil Graf, 36, displayed a switchblade knife and reportedly began to toss and catch the knife, performing various maneuvers, Bloomington Police Department Lt. Faron Lake said.

“What can I do to scare you?” Graf asked the woman on the bed, according to the report.

The woman later told police she was frightened but did not speak in the moment, Lake said.

In an effort to heighten the woman’s fear, Graf reportedly placed the blade on the woman’s left forearm.

The woman suffered about a two-inch laceration to her left forearm.

As the gash began to ooze blood, the man realized her injury required medical attention and drove her to IU Health Bloomington Hospital, where she was treated for the injury and reported the incident to police.


Graf was booked into the Monroe County Jail at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday and faces preliminary charges of battery and intimidation with a deadly weapon.

— Michael Majchrowicz