A 22-year-old Dunnellon man was arrested Saturday morning for allegedly strangling a woman during a domestic dispute.
Anthony Tyler Coburn, of SW Bonable Drive, was charged with domestic battery by strangulation. He’s being held in the Marion County Jail on $1,000 bond.
The witness who reported the incident told a Marion County sheriff’s deputy she was awakened that morning by yelling and what sounded like someone being pushed into items in the victim’s bedroom. She said her boyfriend then ran into her room and told her to help the victim, whose hand was bleeding. The witness said while she and her boyfriend tended to the victim’s injuries, Coburn continued to be threatening and threatened to “beat everybody up,” according to the sheriff’s office report.
The witness told the deputy of an incident the previous evening when she saw Coburn choking the victim with both hands around her neck. She said the victim was trying to yell, but only a few faint words came out. She said Coburn eventually let go of the victim and continued to be verbally aggressive. The witness said she has known Coburn and the victim for about three months and during that time she has witnessed numerous verbal altercations between them and observed injuries on the victim, the report said.
The victim said she and Coburn had been in a verbal altercation in the bedroom and he shoved her through a mirror stand that didn’t contain any glass. She said the stand has two screws sticking out that used to be attached to a mirror and one of those screws scratched her side, according to the report.
The victim said Coburn then shattered a freestanding mirror on the ground while continuing to yell at her, and she cut her fingers picking up the glass. When asked about the incident the previous night, the victim said she was arguing with Coburn on the couch and used her foot to nudge his leg, causing the argument to escalate. She said Coburn grabbed her by the throat with both hands and she could barely breath before he let go and she pushed him away, the report said.
The victim said Coburn started being abusive towards her a year and a half to two years ago when he started using heroin. She said Coburn has struck her, choked her and grabbed her numerous times but she didn’t report the incidents. She showed the deputy photos from December 2018 where she had a busted lip and red marks around her neck from where Coburn allegedly struck and choked her, according to the report.
The victim told of another incident on May 26 when Coburn squeezed her after an argument about her mother. She said she was able to strike Coburn and push away from him, but he then punched her in the right eye. She said she had taken a picture of her eye but was unable to locate it, the report said.
The deputy observed the victim had a 2-inch scratch on the back of her ribs, several cuts on her finger and left knee, two small light-colored bruises on the left side of her neck and slight discoloration on the right side of her neck. The victim had been crying, so the deputy was unable to determine if her eyes were bloodshot due to crying or from the incident, according to the report.
Coburn was located by another deputy at the intersection of SW Ivy Place and SW Anchor Boulevard. He said he and the victim had yelled at each other and shoved each other but nothing further had occurred. When asked about the bruises on the victim’s neck, he said they may have occurred when he placed his hands out to separate himself from the victim. Coburn said there have been numerous altercations between the two and he has only ever defended himself. He denied ever striking or choking the victim.
Coburn was taken to jail without incident. He’s scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on Aug. 20.