A welfare check on a man sleeping out in the cold turns into a trip to the hospital and then jail.

Police Captain Paul Forrester tells KSAL News that officers were sent to the Village Inn Motel, 453 S. Broadway just after midnight on Wednesday and found 46-year-old Jason Girard sleeping outside the lobby.

Girard was transported to Salina Regional Health Center to be treated for hypothermia. Police also discovered blood on his boots and an investigation revealed that he had assaulted an acquaintance inside a room at the Travelers Lodge located nearby at 245 S. Broadway.

Police say 34-year-old Nathan Watts could not recount exactly what had happened between he and Girard, but the two had been in an altercation at the Travelers Lodge.

Watts was taken to the hospital with a concussion and signs of strangulation around his throat.

Girard was booked into he Saline County Jail on charges of aggravated battery.