Man Allegedly Assaulted Wife, Threatened to Harm Family Dog Over Cold Pizza

A Michigan man on Friday allegedly assaulted his wife and threatened to harm the family dog over cold pizza, according to multiple reports.

He has since been charged with unlawful imprisonment, assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and domestic violence.

Michigan State Police confirmed the news in a press release on Tuesday and identified the man as 30-year-old Ross Allen Spreeman.

According to the release, police responded to “a domestic assault in progress” at a home in Otsego Lake Township on Friday at around 9:00 p.m. local time.

“When troopers arrived, they found a woman outside holding a baby and a man wearing only his underwear,” police said. “The man appeared intoxicated, and due to the extremely cold weather, he was taken inside to be interviewed.”

Spreeman’s wife later told police that her husband had been drinking when she left to pick up a pizza. He fell asleep before she returned, but when he finally woke up he found that the pizza had gone cold. This, his wife said, made him “angry.”

“He physically assaulted her and threw one of the dogs in the bathtub,” police said. “He then went to the living room and grabbed a rifle, threatening to shoot the dog.”

Spreeman eventually blocked his wife and their other dog in their baby’s bedroom, where she called for help.

He’s currently being held on a $20,000 bond, and his next court appearance is scheduled for February 24.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) defined domestic violence as “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.”

According to the organization, domestic violence can include physical violence, sexual violence, threats and emotional abuse.

The organization also explained that domestic violence is relatively common in the U.S., with one in three women and one in four men having experienced some form of violence from an intimate partner.

In Michigan specifically, 36.1 percent of women and 25.8 percent of men will experience intimate partner violence at some point in their lives, according to NCADV.

Spreeman isn’t the first man to become involved in a violent altercation with his wife over food. In June, a man in Uttar Pradesh, India, was arrested for killing his wife and critically injuring his son in a dispute over salad.

According to multiple reports, 45-year-old Murli Singh took longer than anticipated to serve him the salad he requested with dinner. Angry, he took a garden hoe and “hacked” his wife to death. He also attacked his son with the gardening tool when his son tried to intervene.