Police: Man suffocated, punched woman

TORRINGTON » A city man was recently arrested after choking, punching, and threatening to kill a woman, according to the Torrington Police Department.

Andrew E. Pouya, 39, of High Street, was arrested Aug. 11 and charged with first-degree kidnapping, unlawful restraint, strangulation, threatening, breach of peace and interfering with an emergency call, police said.

Officers responded to a High Street apartment for a report of a suicidal woman from a caller who identified himself as Pouya, according to police. While police were on their way to the address, a second 911 call came in, according to the report, from a woman

who said that she was “attacked and choked by her boyfriend.”

Officers met with the victim upon arrival. The victim told police that Pouya had attacked her, punched her, threw her around the room, and broke her cell phone when she tried to call 911, according to the report, and “told her he would kill her and her family if she called the police” and “told the victim that he was going to kill her and make it look like a suicide.”

He caused her to be unable to breathe, she said, on multiple occasions during the attack by alternatively kneeling on her chest or holding her head in a blanket, the reports said.

The physical violence went on for just under an hour, the victim told police, before she was able to get away and eventually contact law enforcement.

The victim suffered injuries to her neck had bruises, and scrapes, and complained of neck and back pain, police reported.

Pouya told police that the victim was suicidal, according to the report, and that he called 911 as a result, then left the apartment.

“Pouya said he did not touch the female and was just concerned about her well-being,” wrote the officer.

Witnesses said they heard crashing and banging the night of the incident, police said. One witness “saw the victim distraught and running from the house,” and asked if she needed help, police said.

“The victim told her she was assaulted and needed to call 911. The witness then said they saw Pouya leave from the back door and yell to the victim ‘if you call the cops I’ll kill you and your family,’” the report stated.

Pouya was held on a $50,000 surety bond, police said, and scheduled to appear in Bantam Superior Court on Monday.