CEDAR FALLS - A 30-year-old Waterloo man has been arrested in connection with an altercation on the Cedar Falls Parkade in June that severely injured a Dike man.

Cody Beninga, 23, suffered a head injury after being knocked to the ground in the 300 block of Main Street June 4. Friends had taken him to Sartori Hospital, and he was later transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Wednesday morning Jason Scott Wanke, of 205 W. Fifth St. No. 616, Waterloo, was arrested on a complaint of assault causing serious injury, a Class D felony.

According to police reports, Beninga had been involved in a verbal altercation with other men. At one point a man, not Wanke, hit Beninga and Beninga fell to the ground. Police say Beninga got back up and more pushing ensued. Wanke then struck Beninga, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the concrete.

Bridgette Skinner, Beninga's aunt, said Beninga is now recovering at a brain injury facility in Ankeny. He has gained some motor skills, but is still unable to walk or talk and takes nutrition through a feeding tube.

Beninga is a Dike-New Hartford High School graduate who joined the U.S. Navy after high school and had finished his duty last fall.