A Bradenton man was arrested after he allegedly choked a woman inside her Holmes Beach residence.
Dustan Swihart, 44, was arrested June 24 on charges of domestic battery by strangulation and criminal mischief after police were called to the woman’s home in the 300 block of 63rd Street.
Holmes Beach police arrived at 4:11 a.m. to signs of a struggle and observed red marks on the woman’s neck.
According to reports, the woman told police her ex-boyfriend pushed her around the bedroom until she locked herself in a bathroom. He then allegedly kicked a hole in the bathroom door, picked open the lock with a knife and pulled her out of the room.
Swihart allegedly grabbed her neck and applied pressure until she struggled to breathe. He then threw her into a closet.
The woman told police she had seen Swihart at D.Coy Ducks Tavern in Holmes Beach earlier in the evening.
A friend took the woman home at about 2 a.m., after which Swihart woke her up with a knock at the door. She asked him to leave several times but he refused, according to a police report.
Swihart told police several times that the woman invited him inside the residence, the report stated.
Swihart was transported to the HBPD for paperwork. There, he allegedly began yelling and tried to pull away from an officer walking him outdoors for transport to the jail.
The officer put Swihart against a wall “to get a better grip” and walked him to the squad for transport to the Manatee County jail, according to the report.
Attorney Peter J. Lombardo of Bradenton filed a not-guilty plea June 27 on Swihart’s behalf.
Swihart was released June 28 on $50,120 bond.
His arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.