A St. Paul man charged with beating up a quadruple amputee last week admitted Monday that he hit the woman, but only after she hit him first.

A criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court said that Jacoby Laquan Smith got angry at his girlfriend Tiesha Bell because she blocked his view of the television in their East Side apartment. He threw her to the floor and punched Bell in the face more than 10 times in the March 22 incident, according to the criminal complaint.

But in a telephone interview, Smith, 33, said the dispute with Bell, 28, started with an argument over whether she was seeing another man.

“I had been dealing with her cheating on me,” Smith said.

Smith said the argument escalated after “I turned on the TV and she got mad.”

“She punched me in the groin” Smith said. He said Bell also hit him with a coffee canister and a bedpan.

“It was full of pee,” he said.

In response, “I hit her once and that was it,” Smith said. “Maybe twice.”

Although Bell had both hands and part of both legs amputated because of a childhood illness, Smith said she can still be violent when she loses her temper.

“She’ll swing, push me down and choke me with her nubs,” Smith said. He said she also hit him with her wheelchair.

Bell on Monday agreed there was hitting on both sides. She said she plans to marry Smith and doesn’t want him to serve jail time.

“We both need anger management,” she said.

Smith has been charged with fifth degree assault, a misdemeanor, and interfering with a 911 call, a gross misdemeanor. He said he plans to turn himself into St. Paul police later this week.

Richard Chin can be reached at 651-228-5560.