Dakota J. McFarland

A man was placed on the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program in Butler County Court Tuesday, after being charged with assaulting person in August.

Dakota J. McFarland, 22, no known address, was placed into the program with two years of probation by President Judge Thomas Doerr, on the charge of felony aggravated assault. He also was ordered to pay court costs.

McFarland was also charged with misdemeanor strangulation after the incident in the 300 block of West Cunningham Street Aug. 27. That charge was dismissed.

Butler police filed the charges after responding to Butler Memorial Hospital's emergency room where a 22-year-old man reported that McFarland and another man, Jeremiah S. Fleeger, 36, allegedly attacked him at his home.

The man reported that the three of them were drinking whiskey on his front porch when McFarland made a rude comment about the victim's sister. Police said the man took offense to the remark and told McFarland and Fleeger to leave.

McFarland and Fleeger walked off the porch but remained standing near a van belonging to the victim's father, and the man approached them and told them a second time to leave, documents said.

The victim reported he was unsure what happened next, but he woke up on the ground being strangled by McFarland, documents said.

He said he “blacked out” while being choked. The affidavit said that when the victim passed out, the men assaulted him.

Police described the man's injuries as a severe bruise on the left side of his face. He also had a serious cut to the lip and several marks on his neck. He was treated and later released.

McFarland was held in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail, before he was released after Tuesday's proceeding.

The charge against Fleeger was withdrawn at a preliminary hearing Sept. 25.