A man who was sitting in a parked vehicle talking to a woman outside a house in Bozrah early Sunday morning was violently attacked by the woman's ex-boyfriend, state police say.

The 41-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was cut on his left wrist and taken to the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, according to Connecticut State Police Troop K. Nurses told police that the man suffered tendon damage from the cut and was scheduled for surgery Tuesday.

The man was attacked while sitting in a parked vehicle with an unidentified 26-year-old woman about 2 a.m. Sunday outside a home at 357 Fitchville Road. The woman had been visiting a friend and invited the man over. The two sat in his vehicle and were talking for about 10 minutes when they saw headlights approaching and a green 2012 Subaru Outback pulled into the driveway, police said.

[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="/Assets/news2019/121719_hasselbacher.jpg" alt="Steven Hasselbacher"/]

Steven Hasselbacher (Courtesy of Connecticut State Police)

Steven Hasselbacher, 31, of Norwich exited his vehicle and walked up to the vehicle occupied by the man and woman. He opened the driver's side door and began screaming, at which point the woman ran into the house for help, police said.

Hasselbacher was the woman's ex-boyfriend and the woman had an active protective order against him, due to violent behavior after their breakup, the woman told police.

Hasselbacher began screaming at the man, threatened to kill him and began swinging at him, according to police. The man told police he heard a click and saw something in Hasselbacher's hand, so he raised his left hand up to block his body and climbed into the passenger seat, police said.

Hasselbacher then slammed the driver's side door and the man was able to lock him out and drive away, police said. He drove half a mile down the road and waited for Hasselbacher to drive off before he drove back to the house.

Witnesses told police that the woman came into the house between about 3 a.m. and 3:10 a.m. saying that someone had been hurt, according to police.

After the man came back to the house, a 60-year-old man tied a rope around the man's arm to stop the bleeding, then a 27-year-old woman drove him to the hospital in her vehicle, police said. Once the woman and injured man left the house, another 27-year-old woman who had been in the house at the time of the attack received a Facebook message from Hasselbacher about the crime.

The woman told police that Hasselbacher said in the Facebook message that he couldn't believe what he'd done. The messages read, "He was gushing blood I'm done for, I can't believe I did that," according to police records.

According to the police report, a nurse told Trooper Chester Fowler that the man was discharged but had tendon damage and was scheduled for surgery Tuesday.

Police ran the license plate for the 2012 Subaru Outback and found that Hasselbacher's vehicle was parked at 55th Street between 8th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

Hasselbacher was taken into custody at 12:04 p.m. on an active warrant on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace, second-degree threatening, first-degree reckless endangerment and violation of a protective order. It was unclear where he was found and arrested.

Hasselbacher was taken to Connecticut State Police Troop K barracks in Colchester for processing. He was being held on a $500,000 cash-surety bond and was scheduled to appear in court in Norwich on Wednesday.

t.hartz@theday.com