By Joe Johnson
A 34-year-old Spalding County man last week was arrested after he reportedly strangled an Athens woman in front of her five young children.
Danny Jerome Evans, 34, of Griffin was booked into the Clarke County Jail Wednesday night on charges of aggravated assault and 10 counts of third-degree cruelty to children.
According to a redacted Athens-Clarke County police report, officers responded to a report of a domestic dispute at 7:40 p.m. involving the offender and a 27-year-old woman.
The woman reportedly told police that during an altercation the offender wrapped an arm around her neck and choked her.
“(She) stated that she felt that she was going to pass out” and “she could not breath and felt that she was going to lose consciousness,” according to the report. "(The victim) stated that the children were a witness to the argument, the fight, and the strangulation.”
The children, ages 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 were asked by an officer about what had occurred and “they all stated that (the offender) choked their mother,” according to the report.
The oldest child reportedly demonstrated how for police how his mother was choked.
The fight apparently began because the woman wanted the offender out of her home, according to the report.
Due to state Opens Records Act exemptions regarding records documenting child cruelty, police redacted from the incident report the names of all involved parties, including the offender.
Evans, however, was booked into jail on the case number for the incident and under the listed charges, according to the Clarke County Jail’s website.
Anyone who is in an abusive relationship can seek advice and services by calling Project Safe’s 24-hour hotline at (706) 543-3331, or by visiting http://www.project-safe.org.