Coralville man who once bit off another man’s nose arrested for Shelter House incident
Hunter
7/9/19
A Coralville man who once bit off another man’s nose was arrested Monday for an incident at Shelter House last week that left a woman with injuries at his hand.
On July 2nd at approximately 5:30pm, 51-year-old Donroy Merrival of 20th Avenue Place was observed by witnesses yelling at numerous people in the common area of Shelter House on Southgate Avenue.
As staff tried to calm Merrival down, he allegedly became angry and threw a punch, striking a female bystander. She suffered a swollen, bloody lip and complained of a migraine.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was apprehended Monday night. Merrival is charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury, a serious misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail if convicted.
Merrival made news in 2008 when he bit off the nose of a neighbor who had hit him in the head with a shovel. The victim’s nose was never found, and the man was permanently disfigured. At the time Merrival told police he didn’t remember swallowing the nose, and investigators believe it may have been eaten by one of the man’s dogs.
Merrival was eventually convicted of Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury and sentenced to ten years in prison.