Man’s Ear Bitten Off In Jersey Shore Bar Fight, Authorities Say

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — A Toms River man is accused of biting half of a man's ear off during a bar fight in Point Pleasant Beach last weekend, authorities said.

Michael D. Barone, 35, has been charged with aggravated assault in the incident that happened at 401 Boatyard late Saturday night, according to documents and statements made in court.

Also charged with aggravated assault is John P. Hafner, 34, of also of Toms River, according to court records.

Both men also are charged with purposely causing bodily injury and violent behavior in the incident that started before midnight and spilled over into Sunday morning, according to court records.

During detention hearings before Superior Court Judge Dina Vicari on Friday, Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Paterno said the incident started when the victim stepped in when a woman asked Barone and Hafner to stop following her around the bar.

About 30 minutes later, Paterno said, Barone and Hafner attacked the man, with Barone slapping the victim and choking him, and eventually biting "a large portion" of the man's ear off.

The victim was knocked to the floor, Paterno said, and Hafner hit the man multiple times and had to be pulled off the victim.

Paterno said the events were captured on surveillance video.

The victim was taken to a local hospital and was covered in blood, she said, and police officers who spoke with him there saw the large portion of his ear had been bitten off. The victim also had red marks on his neck, police said, that indicated he had been choked.

The man will need several surgeries to repair the damage to his ear, Paterno said.

Barone's defense attorney, Scott Cohen, contested the idea that Barone bit the man's ear off, saying he is 4 to 5 inches taller than the victim.

"I honestly don't think it was my client who did that," Cohen said.

Both Hafner and Barone admitted to getting into "an altercation" with the victim, according to the probable cause affidavits filed in their arrests.

Bar staff identified both as the aggressors, the affidavits said.

Vicari released both men with strict pretrial monitoring conditions, limiting when they can leave their homes to going to work and in Barone's case, for visitation with his child.