A 28-year-old Umatilla man is accused of putting a man in a chokehold and slapping a woman with the back of his hand during a wild family brawl.
Cody Gene Smith was charged with domestic battery by strangulation and simple domestic battery after the incident. The relationship between Smith and the victims was redacted from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office report, but the victims are married and all three live at the same residence.
The female victim told a sheriff’s deputy that Smith took a victim’s car on Monday and didn’t return until the early morning hours of Tuesday. She said she confronted Smith in the front of the residence about not returning the vehicle and they started to verbally argue, according to the report.
The female victim said her husband – the male victim – was awakened by the loud argument and came out of the residence to intervene. She said Smith went after the male victim in an aggressive manner, put him in a “chokehold” and threw him to the ground, the report said
The female victim said Smith got on top of the male victim and continued to squeeze his neck, to the point where she heard the male victim “gasping” for air while Smith had his arms around his throat. The female victim said she tried to intervene and Smith told her to, “get the (expletive deleted) off of me,” and backhanded her in the face, according to the report.
The deputy observed dried blood on the female victim’s left nostril region. The male victim had red markings on his neck region and dried blood coming from both nostrils and his mouth, the report said.
The male victim said he was awakened by yelling and screaming in the front yard. He said he came out and tried to intervene, and that’s when Smith came at him in an aggressive manner, grabbed both of his shoulders, spun him around, placed his right arm around his neck and squeezed hard, according to the report.
The male victim said he was gasping for air and couldn’t breathe. He said Smith threw him face-first into the ground with his arm still around the victim’s neck. The male victim said when his wife tried to intervene, Smith let go of his neck and turned around and struck her in the face. He said Smith then got up and left the residence on foot, the report said.
A deputy found Smith walking and detained him. Smith said no physical altercation occurred between him and the victims. He was taken to the Marion County Jail and will appear in court on April 28.