CUTLER BAY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police arrested a Cutler Bay man early Monday morning after accusing him of hitting and strangling his ex-girlfriend as they were returning from a boat trip to the Florida Keys.
According to an arrest report, on Sunday night, Christopher Peter Suda and his ex were on the boat as it entered the channel into Black Point Marina, located south of Cutler Bay, when Suda struck the woman in the back of her head.
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Police said after she fell forward, Suda, 45, struck her twice more in the back of her head before arriving at the marina.
After coming ashore, Suda loaded the boat onto a trailer and he and his ex-girlfriend got into their vehicle and the two began driving off, police said.
The report states that the woman tried to get out of the vehicle as it was moving, at which point Suda “then grabbed the victim by the neck and pinned her down to the center console.”
After the two got back to Suda’s home in the 8500 block of Caribbean Boulevard, police said “the victim advised that (Suda) pushed her into the side gate and she walked out the other side.”
“She advised that she walked away from (his) residence and was able to flag down a good Samaritan who contacted police on her behalf,” the report states. “The victim sustained marks on her neck and bruising throughout her body.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews took the woman to Jackson South Medical Center to be treated for her injuries.
Police said they took Suda into custody after he arrived at Jackson South later on in the night.
In an interview at the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Cutler Bay station, Suda told detectives that the woman attacked him first and that he grabbed her by the neck “to prevent her from jumping out of the car and hurting herself.”
Suda, who was arrested on a felony charge of domestic battery by strangulation and a misdemeanor battery charge, was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $6,500 bond.