A 55-year-old man was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with using a knife to keep his girlfriend from leaving her home in the 1000 block of Dicus Mill Road, police said.

Witnesses told county police that the suspect had gone next door when he learned that police had been called. The officers said they found the man, searched him and recovered a utility knife.

Charlene Margaret Drury, 58, who lives at the address, told police that she had tried to leave her home after arguing with the suspect. The man is alleged to have pulled a knife, stood between her and the front door and refused to let her leave, police said. A friend of Ms. Drury's ran to a neighbor's house to call police, who arrived around 3:30 p.m.

Charles Willis Smith, 55, of no fixed address, was charged with assault and false imprisonment, police said.