From staff reports
A Franklin man is facing charges after he allegedly choked a woman while she was holding on to her infant child early Wednesday morning at an Otter Street residence.
A criminal complaint filed through district judge Matthew Kirtland’s office said Franklin police responded to 1336 Otter at about 1:35 a.m. Wednesday for a report of an assault in progress.
Upon arrival, police could hear yelling from an upstairs bedroom where 21-year-old Braiden Warner attempted to shut himself in the room with a woman. Officers had to kick down the door in order to apprehend Warner, the complaint said.
The second incident began when Warner started to yell and shove the woman into the wall and ground as she was attempting to gather clothing to stay in another room of the home to de-escalate the situation, the complaint said.
The woman ran away from Warner and into an upstairs bedroom where her 2 1/2 month old infant was asleep on a bed, the complaint said.
Warner came into the room and grabbed the woman by the neck. He held her down on the bed and applied pressure to a degree that it impeded her airway, the complaint said.
The woman was trying to keep the infant from falling off the bed as Warner choked her, and a male witness eventually pulled Warner off her, the complaint said.
Warner is facing a felony count of strangulation, in addition to a misdemeanor count of simple assault and two misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person.
He was arraigned before Kirtland and placed in the Venango County jail on $25,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in Central Court.
