Michael Ivell France

A Bowling Green man arrested in connection with a reported stabbing will have his case presented before a grand jury.

Michael Ivell France, 51, appeared Friday over videoconferencing for a preliminary hearing in Warren District Court in his criminal case. He is charged with first-degree assault (domestic violence), first-degree strangulation and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

France was arrested April 5 after a woman was brought to TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital with multiple stab wounds and other injuries.

Officer Katherine Gleaves of the Bowling Green Police Department testified that officers were called to the hospital shortly after 4 a.m. April 5 and spoke with the woman, who was involved in a relationship with France.

The woman said she and France had gotten into a verbal altercation soon after she arrived home about 2:45 a.m. at their Audley Avenue residence, with France accusing her of infidelity.

Gleaves said the woman reported being punched by France and dragged back into her car, where she reported being stabbed with a “utility knife” and struck with a wooden block.

France then drove throughout the county for an extended amount of time, with the woman reporting she remembered seeing the sign for the Oakland exit on Interstate 65 during the drive, Gleaves said.

At some point, the woman got access to the knife allegedly used in the incident and threw it out of the vehicle, but she was unable to provide police with a location for where this might have taken place, Gleaves said.

According to court records, medical staff told police the woman had four stab wounds, multiple cuts to her face and arms and bruises on her face and legs. She also complained of neck pain.

“The doctor treating the victim advised the stab wounds to her legs would have been life-threatening if she would not have received medical treatment,” France’s arrest citation said.

France remains in the Warren County Regional Jail under a $50,000 cash bond.

When they arrived at the hospital, France told staff the couple had been assaulted by two men on Stubbins Street, according to his arrest citation.