Man charged with assaulting girlfriend

Police say the victim was pregnant at time of the alleged assault.

FITCHBURG » After telling police a 24-year-old city woman had been assaulted by her boyfriend after he became angry when learning she was pregnant, police arrested a city man last week on charges related to the assault, according to police and court documents.

The victim reported to police that when James E. Brown, 30, of Caswell Street, learned on Tuesday, April 13, she was pregnant he was not happy because he already had two children and she had one, the reporting officer said.

The two began arguing about their relationship and past relationships and during the argument, Brown took her cellphone and smashed it, the officer reported.

The victim picked up the phone and put it in her purse and had started gathering her things to leave. When she put the purse over her shoulder, Brown violently ripped it off, breaking the strap and leaving several marks on her arm, the victim told the officer.

Brown then kneed her in her left thigh, causing her to fall. and once on the floor, Brown got on top of her, put both hands around her neck and began choking her, which lasted about 30 seconds, the victim told the officers. The assault only stopped when a woman who was sleeping in the residence woke up and got Brown off of her, the victim told the officer.

Brown left the residence and officers were dispatched to his residence where he was arrested without incident, the officer reported.

Officers then spoke with the woman who had allegedly stopped the assault and she told them that she was at home, heard the two arguing, but didn’t hear anything she would have described as a physical fight, the woman told the officers.

She also told the officers the victim and

Brown had been hiking and four-wheeling recently and believed those marks on the victim to have occurred then, the officer reported.

Once booked, Brown denied all the allegations, but said that the two had argued, the officer reported. As a result of the incident, Brown was charged with assault and battery on a pregnant victim, domestic assault and battery, strangulation or suffocation, and vandalizing property, according to court documents.

When arraigned last Thursday, Brown, who pleaded not guilty, was ordered held without bail pending the outcome of a dangerousness hearing scheduled for today, court documents state.