Troopers said two children were inside the vehicle when an argument between their parents escalated on Interstate 95.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — A Boca Raton woman faces three felony charges after Florida Highway Patrol investigators said she attacked her husband as he drove north on Interstate 95 with their two young children in the vehicle, leaving him with an ear injury that required hospital treatment and planned surgery.

Amy Arlene Baker, 43, was arrested after the Aug. 15 confrontation near Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach, according to an arrest report and court information cited by news organizations that obtained the records. Authorities charged her with aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability and two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. The separate neglect counts correspond to the couple’s children, who were 1 and 7 and were riding in the vehicle when the dispute became physical.

The encounter began as an ordinary trip home from a gathering in the Fort Lauderdale area, according to investigators. Baker, her husband and their children had been at a party on a boat and were traveling north toward home. Friends from the gathering were following in another vehicle. While the family was on I-95 approaching Hillsboro Boulevard, the couple began arguing over problems in their relationship. What happened after that is described differently by Baker and her husband, but both accounts place the most serious part of the confrontation inside the moving vehicle.

Baker’s husband told investigators that the argument became increasingly hostile as he drove. According to the arrest report, he said Baker insulted him and that he responded by referring to a prior felony. He alleged that Baker then struck the left side of his face with an open hand. A short time later, he said, Baker grabbed his face and head with both hands and bit the right side of his ear, severing a portion of it. He told troopers that he did not strike or otherwise physically attack Baker during the dispute.

The injury changed the family’s destination. Rather than continuing home, the husband left the interstate and drove to West Boca Medical Center in Boca Raton. Investigators said friends who had been traveling behind the family took the two children away from the hospital and to a home. When a Florida Highway Patrol trooper later met the husband in the emergency department, the arrest report described him as wearing a bandage around his head, with what appeared to be blood on his neck and clothing. Medical staff were preparing to treat the damaged ear.

Baker offered investigators a different account of the confrontation’s beginning. She said she had called 911 because she believed her husband had been drinking and told authorities that he struck her on the left side of her face while they were driving. She described the argument as involving life insurance, liability and other personal matters. Her husband denied hitting her. The reports reviewed for this story do not indicate that investigators independently confirmed either spouse’s description of who initiated physical contact before the ear injury.

There was, however, an important point on which Baker’s statement and the physical circumstances converged. According to the arrest report, Baker acknowledged grabbing her husband’s head and biting his ear. She also acknowledged that part of the ear became detached. Investigators said she recovered the severed portion and later gave it to medical personnel. Baker told the trooper that she had become frustrated and had “lost control,” according to the report. She also said she later apologized and attempted to assist her husband.

The husband’s account contained another allegation that drew attention in the probable cause narrative. He told investigators that Baker laughed after the injury and did not at first seem to appreciate its seriousness. That description comes from his account and is not independently established by the records reviewed. Troopers nevertheless had the husband’s visible injury, Baker’s acknowledgment that she bit him and the couple’s differing statements as they assessed what had happened. The investigating trooper ultimately identified Baker as the primary aggressor, according to the arrest report.

The children’s presence added a second dimension to the case beyond the alleged battery. Neither child was reported physically injured, but investigators said both were in the car during the confrontation while their father was driving on an interstate highway. The Florida Department of Children and Families was notified after Baker’s arrest. Public reporting reviewed for this article does not describe what, if any, separate action the department later took concerning the children, and their names have not been published in the reports reviewed.

Florida law defines aggravated battery, in part, as a battery in which a person intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement. The offense is classified as a second-degree felony under state law. Florida’s child-neglect statute separately covers willful or culpably negligent neglect that does not cause great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement. That offense is classified as a third-degree felony. The filing of charges represents an accusation; prosecutors would have to prove the allegations in court.

After the hospital investigation, Baker was taken into custody and processed at the Broward County Jail. A magistrate later found probable cause for the charges. Law&Crime reported that the judge’s probable cause order included a brief notation referring to the ear injury. Baker was subsequently released after posting bond, according to that report. Her release conditions prohibited contact with her husband except for communications necessary to arrange the care and custody of their children.

The husband’s medical outcome beyond the initial hospital treatment has not been publicly detailed in the sources reviewed. At the time investigators left the hospital, he was awaiting surgery intended to reattach the detached portion of his ear. The available reports do not establish whether the procedure was successful, whether he suffered permanent impairment or whether either spouse later changed the statements given to investigators. Those questions could become relevant as prosecutors evaluate the aggravated battery allegation and the extent of the injury.

The arrest records and initial news reports also do not establish a final resolution of Baker’s criminal case. Searches for later public reporting through Sept. 28 did not locate a reported plea, trial or dismissal. Baker is therefore accused, not convicted, of the offenses described in the arrest record. The conflicting accounts of how the physical confrontation began remain allegations, while her reported acknowledgment that she bit her husband forms part of the evidence described by investigators.

Author note: Last updated Sept. 28, 2026.