A Boca Raton man is behind bars for allegedly strangling a woman and repeatedly slamming her head into the dashboard while driving an RV in Marion County.
Perry Davis Bray, 58, was charged Monday with domestic battery by strangulation and driving with a suspended license (habitual offender). A records check showed Bray with eight prior convictions for driving with a suspended/revoked license in Florida and New York.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies received a report of a white Sea Breeze camper traveling west on Highway 200 with the male driver physically attacking the female passenger. A deputy identified the vehicle, by then heading east on Highway 200, and initiated a traffic stop at the 6600 block of southbound Interstate 75, according to the sheriff’s office report.
When told by the deputy about the report, Bray said he didn’t know anything about it and that the victim had bumped her head on the dashboard while he was switching lanes. He was placed in handcuffs and detained, the report said.
The victim’s voice was raspy and she had problems speaking with the deputy. She had petechiae in her eyes and she was grasping her neck as if she was having trouble breathing. Marion County Fire Rescue arrived and tended to the victim and eventually took her to a local hospital, according to the report.
In the ambulance, the victim told the deputy that Bray slapped her three or four times and punched her in the face. She said Bray choked her to the point where she lost consciousness. The victim also said Bray forced her head into the dashboard repeatedly and she doesn’t remember when she lost consciousness, the report said.
The person who reported the incident said the driver had elbowed the passenger at least 10 times and then grabbed her by her neck and started forcing her head into the vehicle’s dashboard. The victim’s injuries also included discoloration and swelling near her eye and a small laceration on her forehead that was red in color, according to the report.
Bray is being held in the Marion County Jail on $7,500 bond. He’ll appear in Marion County Court on May 12.