
[...]
Guffey told police he shouted, "Slow down, there are kids out there!"
The SUV driver -- later identified as Cross -- pulled to the side of the street and got out of his vehicle, telling Guffey he "wasn't going to talk to him like that," according to a police report.
Guffey said he told the driver, "I'm just asking you to slow down. I don't want trouble, but there are kids out."
The man hit Guffey in the face, then "took him to the ground, where he struck him some more with his hands, then bit off his ear," city patrolman M. Chase Hightower reported.
"Guffey stated the man then got up and spit his ear out at him," Hightower wrote.
The man then drove away in the SUV.
Guffey -- later treated at Henry County Memorial Hospital -- told police he had never seen his attacker before, but believed him to be "nuts."
Contacted Thursday morning, New Castle Police Chief James Nicholson said crime scene photos reflected "a good chunk" of Guffey's left ear had been torn off.
Authorities said they were uncertain whether efforts had been made to surgically reattach the severed portion of the ear.
Local court records reflect no prior felony convictions for Cross, of 1306 S. 17th St.
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