Man accused of choking pregnant girlfriend

by Kevin Lilly
Pharos-Tribune

November 02, 2009 09:34 pm

— A Logansport man is in jail on charges he choked his pregnant live-in girlfriend.
On Sunday afternoon, Logansport police responded to a 911 call made from a residence in the 1200 block of North Street. They arrived to find a woman who claimed her boyfriend, 20-year-old Jeremy Wayne Strayer, had grabbed her around the neck so hard she could not breathe.
Strayer had fled the scene, according to a police report by Patrolman Flaude Dillon.
Upon speaking further to the alleged victim and two witnesses, police gathered that Strayer and 18-year-old Darcie Donnely began arguing about her changing the channel while he was watching football. Strayer proceeded to punch and break the TV screen before he choked her, the report stated.
Donnely refused medical treatment at the scene.
Dillon reported that since June, police have responded 13 times to domestic abuse and fight complaints at the residence.
Strayer was booked into the Cass County Jail on a class D felony charge of strangulation and a class C felony charge of battery in addition to a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. The class C felony is a result of Donnely being pregnant, Dillon said.
If convicted on all counts, Strayer faces up to 12 years in prison.
• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com.