Editor’s note, July 25, 2022: The charges related to allegations in this incident were dismissed in court and the man’s name has been removed from this article.
A 47-year-old Darien man, who came home apparently intoxicated, held one person in a headlock while holding another by the neck against a wall, according to Darien police.
Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
In the evening of Jan. 21, the man arrived home and got into a dispute with at least one person, whom he held in a headlock. A second person tried to intervene, and the man held that person by the neck against a wall.
Police later determined that they had probable cause to charge the man with second-degree strangulation on the accusation he held the second person by the neck. He was also charged with second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree assault and, because children were present, three counts of risk of injury to a minor.
All six charges are felonies.
At some point, one of the victims broke free, and the man pulled that person’s hair.
While police were at the home, they were told that on Dec. 1, another verbal dispute became physical between one of the victims and the man. At some point during that dispute the two were on the floor when the man pushed a bench into the victim’s head, causing bruises. At the time, pictures were taken of the bruises, which were then given to police after they arrived for the second incident.
Police applied for an arrest warrant on Friday, Jan. 22, which received approval from a prosecutor and a judge, so the man was also charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
At that point, the man was being held in Bridgeport Correctional Center, where Darien police again arrested him. His bond on the new charge was set at $50,000.
He was later released on the warrant charge, according to both police and the state Judicial Branch website, but as of Tuesday the website still indicates the man is still being held on the first charges. His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 25.