OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania man was arrested on first-degree assault charges last week after alleging choking his girlfriend at a downtown hotel during a domestic incident.
Around 3 a.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a hotel at 4th Street for a reported domestic dispute. Ocean City Communications advised a female caller reported her boyfriend had been “jumped” and that he was violent and she was scared he was coming back to the hotel room, according to police reports.
Ocean City Communications advised they could hear screaming in the background of the call. The female caller had locked herself in the bathroom and the suspect, later identified as Jalen Marrero, 19, of Middletown, Pa., was banging on the door.
Communications advised Marrero had made entry into the bathroom and the female victim could be heard screaming “stop,” according to police. The female victim was able to flee the bathroom and run to an elevator. When OCPD officers arrived, they located the female victim in the hotel parking lot.
Officers located Marrero in the room. He was reportedly bleeding from his mouth, left hand, right knee and both feet and his shorts were covered in blood, according to police reports. Marrero reportedly told officers his injuries were caused by a fight he had just been in with a group of males who “jumped” him.
Officers interviewed the victim, who reportedly told police Marrero had grabbed her by the neck with both hands and squeezed hard to the point she could not breathe, but that she never lost consciousness. According to police reports, the victim had visible signs of a choking incident including broken blood vessels on her neck.
The victim said he was able to lock herself in the bathroom and called 911, and OCPD officers arrived on the scene a short time later. Officers investigated the hotel room in which the victim and Marrero were staying. According to police reports, the room was in disarray with blood on the floor, bed sheets and the wall.
There was a small kitchenette with the cabinet doors torn from their hinges. The bathroom door had numerous dents and gouges in it. Through the investigation, OCPD officers determined the kitchen cabinet doors had been used as a blunt object against the bathroom door. Marrero was arrested and charged with first-and second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property.
