By Lisa Irizarry, Phillyburbs.com
Authorities responding to a domestic violence situation involving strangulation no longer have to face a “he said, she said” type of situation if there are no telling bruise marks on the victim’s throat.
Because of improved training for handling these investigations, police have a lot more they can look for to get to the truth about what occurred.
Pemberton Township Detective Danielle Hann, who is the police department’s domestic violence liaison and coordinator for officers’ training through Providence House Domestic Violence Services of Burlington County, said the approach to possible strangulation cases has changed.
Hann said domestic violence is still considered taboo, so officers might find a victim unwilling to acknowledge what happened, unsure because she might have blacked out, or did not know strangulation was significant and is not the same as choking, or she may not want to talk about it. She also may want to protect her assailant or is in fear of that person.
“Within the last years, there has been more and more light brought on these issues,” Hann said.
She said there is a “distinct difference” made now between choking and strangulation among authorities.
“There had been a misconception on both sides (police and the people involved in domestic violence incidents), and domestic violence was viewed for many years as a family issue, not a police matter.
“The Domestic Violence Act came forward, and everyone saw domestic violence in a different light,” Hann said. “But there are still some people who don’t want to talk about it. People look at it as an embarrassment. It keeps a lot of people from coming forward, and they downplay it because they don’t want to accept what really happened. The officers (in the past) were going on what they were told if there were no (obvious) physical signs (of strangulation).
“If there are no physical signs, the training is now more advanced, so officers look for other signs,” she said. “We can see other things that might contradict what we are being told.”
“Officers now know that if they document an investigation thoroughly, through photos, video and statements, etc., they can proceed with or without the victim,” Florence police Capt. Brian Boldizar said. “This is important, because a lot of times when it comes time to go to court, the victim does not come to court, or tells the judge that they do not want to proceed with charges.”
Boldizar added, “Some physical injuries may become apparent and visible as many as several days after an incident. So swelling, marks and bruises should be repeatedly photographed to show their evolution over time.”
“Some of the injuries may be self-inflicted, where the victim is struggling to stop the offender’s manual strangulation and/or to remove ligature from around the throat, neck or nose,” he said.
About 30 states have domestic violence by strangulation laws that under certain conditions make it a felony to impede a person’s breathing. New Jersey does not.
“Some have put a special focus on it,” said Sandy Clark said, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women and a member of the New Jersey Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, which examines cases provided by police and prosecutors to study how homicides could have been prevented. So there are many new methods used for determining exactly what has occurred when authorities arrive at a scene.
Clark said police also realize now that if a woman is the victim and has been raped, or if some other crime was committed at the same time as the strangulation, the strangulation might now stand out for her.
“Any form of domestic violence is treated very seriously and is prosecuted to the fullest,” Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi said. “We believe that an accusation of strangulation should be met with more severe charges, and have worked with local police departments to make sure they know how to determine when this abuse has occurred.”
Bernardi added, “Symptoms such as raspy speech, difficulty in swallowing or loss of bladder control, among other signs, may be present even if there are no red marks on the throat. It is crucial for the responding officers to be able to document this abuse has taken place, because it can be difficult to prove in front of a jury.”

According to the Texas Council on Family Violence, 10 percent of violent deaths in the country are attributable to strangulation. A victim who has been strangled is nine times as likely to be killed as one who has not, the group said. “It’s a very powerful type of abuse because you’re putting your hands around someone’s neck and squeezing the life out of there,” said Austin police Sgt. Sandra Hutchinson of the family violence unit.
With the help of the Travis County district and county attorney offices, the Police Department has revised the form filled out in domestic assault cases to include an extra page that officers must complete if the victim has been strangled. It asks for details about how and where the victim was strangled and for any symptoms. McKay said that presenting those symptoms — which include defecation, urination and the bursting of small blood vessels in the eyes or skin, leaving behind tiny red spots — to a jury is most likely to lead to a strangulation conviction.
The Travis County sheriff’s office has used a supplemental strangulation report for many years, officials said, and revised it in December 2011 to make it easier for officers to note symptoms of strangulation. “I have been a cop for almost 21 years, and we make a way better case than we ever did,” said Sgt. Demetrie Mitchell of the sheriff’s office’s family violence unit. Hutchinson said that before the police form was released, officers had to remember a laundry list of symptoms — many of which could be internal — while on a call. Naturally, she said, officers would forget to include all symptoms while drafting reports. “To ask an officer to memorize all this is not fair; it’s almost impossible,” Hutchinson said. “For them to have a checklist to go down … it’s a nice tool.”
McKay, who handles only strangulation cases, said she often had to try to follow up with victims to fill in the holes of police reports, and that could be difficult. Eighty percent of victims recant their stories, she said. Last year more than 300 strangulation cases were filed in Travis County.
After a man punched and scratched his ex-girlfriend in February 2011, he strangled her with her jacket sleeve, an arrest affidavit said. He let go, then continued to strangle her with his forearm while also punching her. The man walked away with a misdemeanor assault family violence conviction and a year in jail in part because the woman recanted her story, McKay said.
“When officers make the scene, that’s the only time victims will talk,” police Detective Peter Wright said. “That’s why the form is so important.” A handshake is an exchange of about 80 pounds of pressure, Hutchinson said. Someone can lose consciousness if strangled with 4 pounds of pressure for 10 seconds, she said.
“Strangulation is very serious because you can still die … even without signs of injury,” she said. “We had one pass out in the middle of the statement because of swelling on the inside.” When she was strangled during three incidents over a 16-day period, Sarah, who still fears for her safety and asked that her real name not be used, said her vision was blurred. She couldn’t hear anything. She gasped for air. She urinated on herself. Her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to more than six years in jail after she revealed to the jury how close she had been to dying. Many of the questions McKay asked Sarah during her testimony are now included on the Police Department’s strangulation supplement.
“The things that helped to develop the form were based on successes in trials and strangulation cases that were thorough,” McKay said. “Strangulation is its own category of domestic violence when it comes to control. It’s not always about killing her, but letting her know that he can.”
STRANGULATION
Cases filed this year in Travis County:
January — 32
February — 28
March — 35
April — 32
May — 26
June — 28
July — 41
Total: 222
Source: Travis County district attorney’s office
Learn more: For more information on domestic violence, visit thehotline.org or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224.