FAIRFIELD — A Madison man was arrested early Tuesday after police said he left a large bite mark on a woman’s cheek.

The man, James Carroll Arcuni, 34, was arrested for domestic-violence assault and was taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison.

Fairfield Police Chief John Emery said Officer Matthew Wilcox was dispatched at 1:37 a.m. to a residence on Lower Ridge Road. Wilcox found a woman with a large bite mark on her cheek and blood on her shirt, according to Emery, though it was unclear from the officer’s report whether the blood had come from the cheek wound.

The woman told the officer that Arcuni was drunk and when she tried to persuade him to go to bed, he grabbed her by the throat and bit her.

When Wilcox attempted to question Arcuni, who he found lying on the bedroom floor, the man initially ignored the officer’s presence, Emery said.

When Arcuni did acknowledge the officer, he claimed that the woman had assaulted him.

Emery said the female admitted that she had punched the 5-foot-11-inch, 190-pound man to get him off of her during the assault. The woman was not charged, Emery said, because she acted in self-defense.

Arcuni was verbally uncooperative when Wilcox placed him under arrest, Emery said.

Emery did not know whether the woman was taken to a hospital because the officer’s incident report wasn’t complete yet.

Arcuni was still being held at the jail late Tuesday afternoon on $1,500 cash bail, according to a jail spokeswoman.

Beth Staples — 861-9252

bstaples@centralmaine.com