By Will C. Holden
(KDVR) — The domestic violence case against Aron Ralston, the famed amputee hiker who was arrested on misdemeanor charges in Denver over the weekend, was dropped on Monday afternoon.
Ralston had been scheduled to appear in court on Monday to face expected charges of assault and wrongs to minors, but that hearing was cancelled due to the case being dropped.
However, it appeared that charges against Ralston’s girlfriend of two years, Vita Shannon, will proceed. She is accused of assault and wrongs to minors, as well as disturbing the peace.
Ralston’s arrest reportedly came after a fight between him and Shannon, who was also arrested. According to the probable cause statement, Ralston was “struck twice in the back of the head with fists by the defendant (Shannon)” at a residence in Capitol Hill.
The two had been in an argument regarding Ralston’s son, Denver Police said. Police made a note that the couple’s 8-week-old daughter was present at the time of the assault.
Ralston rose to fame in 2003, when he was forced to cut off his own arm to escape from beneath a boulder. He was hiking alone in a Utah canyon when the boulder fell on his right arm, pinning him against a canyon wall for over five days.
His decision to saw off his arm with a dull, two-inch knife was depicted in the acclaimed film “127 Hours.”
