PD: Man, 18, Choked Baby's Mother to Prevent her From Bringing Child to Florida

The following police reports come from the Middletown Police public information officer. Individuals named here reflect charges filed, never a conviction.

The threat of a man's infant being taken to Florida by the baby's 17-year-old mother led an 18-year-old Middletown man to choke her in an effort to prevent the move from taking place, according to police.

On Dec. 28 at 3 p.m., a 17-year-old woman told police her boyfriend and father of her 1-month-old child, Jan C. Delacruz, 18, of Maplewood Terrace, assaulted her at her home in Traverse Square, according to the report, while discussing child care for their daughter. 

Police say became very angry over a discussion of the victim taking their daughter to Florida and he threatened to kill her and her entire family if she did so, according to the report. 

He grabbed her shirt, threw her on the bed, police say, and punched her multiple times in the chest and legs, grabbed her neck in a headlock and dragged her toward him. 

Repeatedly, Delacruz asked her if she was going to take the baby to Florida, police say, while she had trouble breathing, then threatened to push her down the stairs. She was sent to Middlesex Hospital for treatment 

He was arrested for disorderly conduct, third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree strangulation, threatening, and an outstanding warrant for failure to respond.