MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A woman from Hialeah asked Miami Beach police for help after dropping off her live-in boyfriend at the Nine Island Avenue condominium building in Belle Isle, police said.
The woman told police officers Juan Martinez, who had been her boyfriend for about three years, had hurt her before, but this time she was afraid he was going to kill her.
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On Tuesday, police officers noted the couple’s domestic violence history in a report. The woman told police they had started arguing at about 6:20 a.m., at the Hialeah apartment they share with her mother.
According to the police report describing the domestic violence, Martinez became “enraged and started hitting himself in the head,” so she decided to walk away.
The woman reported Martinez — who is 6 foot 1 inch tall and weighs about 225 pounds — “grabbed her by her hair,” overpowered her, and “placed both of his hands around her throat.”
According to the police report, she lost consciousness, and once she woke up, the attack continued in the bathroom where Martinez allegedly pushed her into the bathtub and struck her while she was face down.
The woman, who was injured, reported Martinez later continued the attack in the bedroom where he threatened to “kill her” if she called the police for help.
The woman told police she wanted to escape, but he ordered her to drive him to work. She said she thought about running, but since her mother had witnessed some of the abuse, she feared for her safety too.
After dropping off Martinez, she told police she was so terrified that she decided to cross the Belle Isle-South Beach bridge and head to the Miami Beach Police Department’s marine patrol station.
Records show Martinez has been arrested at least 10 times in Miami-Dade County. He has faced accusations of aggravated assault with a firearm, armed burglary, and strongarm robbery — but many of those arrests were for domestic violence in Hialeah.
Last year, Martinez was arrested for domestic battery by strangulation. In 2021, he was accused of battery in May; of battery and domestic battery by strangulation in August; and of violating a pre-trial order in a domestic violence case in September.
Miami Beach police officers contacted the Hialeah Police Department and reported she had suffered injuries to her rib cage and head. Hialeah officers detained Martinez on Tuesday at his job in Belle Isle, and arrested him at about 1 p.m., at the main police station in Hialeah.
Miami-Dade correctional officers booked Martinez at about 5:45 p.m., on Tuesday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Martinez appeared in bond court on Wednesday facing domestic violence charges of kidnapping, battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment.
The bond court judge did not allow Martinez to be released and ordered him to stay away from the victim. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Alberto Milian was set to preside over the case. Martinez’s bond review was set for 9:30 a.m., on Thursday.
To get help for domestic violence, call the national hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.