A Boca Raton man is in the Palm Beach County Jail on $26,000 bond after deputies said he strangled a teenager during a fight that began with a phone call about school. BocaNewsNow.com reported the details from a heavily redacted police report and a probable cause affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the man called the teen on the afternoon of Oct. 14 and asked why he was not in class. The teen said it was PSAT day and that he did not need to attend. The conversation shifted to unpaid bills, and the man hung up angry.
Investigators say the man returned 10 to 15 minutes later, walked into the teen’s bedroom, grabbed him by the neck with his forearm and punched him in the face. The teen told deputies he could barely breathe. He said he fought back, cutting the man’s cheek, and grabbed two knives but never used them.
Deputies were called to a domestic disturbance around 5:35 p.m. and found the teen outside the home with blood on him, cut lips and a red mark running down the left side of his neck. A woman at the home told deputies the fight moved through the house and broke a PlayStation console. Deputies documented blood in several rooms.
The man left in a white Toyota Camry, stopped, shoved the teen again and drove away. A sheriff’s street team later found him at his home and arrested him.
He faces felony charges of domestic battery by strangulation and child abuse without great bodily harm, plus a misdemeanor battery count. The charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in court.
