A Butler man is behind bars on six-figure bond after city police said he assaulted his girlfriend and threatened to kill her during a domestic dispute Tuesday evening at the couple's home on Wilkes Avenue.

Stephen M. Richards, 62, is charged with misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and simple assault.

Officers went to the home after a 911 dispatcher returned a hang-up call around 7:15 p.m. A man answered the phone and claimed there was no problem, police said.

But a woman got on the line, saying the man had thrown her down and threatened her with a knife. The call, authorities said, was disconnected.

Police are familiar with the couple from previous domestic-related calls.

Officers got to the house and found the 67-year-old victim hiding behind the front door. She said Richards had fled the house and was hiding in the bushes across the street.

The victim said her head hit the floor when the defendant threw her down, police said. She declined medical treatment.

She told police that she wanted Richards arrested, according to charging documents, telling them, “If I don't press charges, he will end up killing me.”

District Judge William Fullerton arraigned Richards on the charges. He is in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bond. He also was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

Police arrested Richards July 7 on charges he strangled his girlfriend at their home. But those charges were later withdrawn at his preliminary hearing, authorities said, after the victim advised that she did not want him prosecuted.

Following Tuesday's alleged assault, documents said, she acknowledged to police that she had declined to press charges in the past. But this time, police said, she “is willing to testify” against him.