A 28-year-old Ocala man was arrested Sunday after he allegedly punched and strangled a woman during a domestic altercation.
The victim told a Marion County sheriff’s deputy that she and James Donald Barefield Jr., of South Pine Avenue, were arguing when Barefield punched her on the right side of her face with his closed left fist. She said he pushed her into the side table next to her bed, causing her to hit her face on the table, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The victim said Barefield kept pushing her and shoved her into a cabinet, causing her to injure her right elbow. She said he twice came up behind her and used the inside of his elbow to strangle her, and that she lost air on both occasions, the report said.
The deputy observed a red laceration on the victim’s right cheek, as well as discoloration and scratch marks on her right elbow. The victim’s neck was red on both sides, as was her chest just below the neck. She was coughing and had a sore throat and a raspy voice, and she said she was having a hard time talking and swallowing, according to the report.
Barefield told the deputy the altercation was only verbal and nothing physical occurred. He charged with domestic battery by strangulation and taken to the Marion County Jail, where he bonded out on Wednesday. His next appearance in Marion County Court is scheduled for July 16.