DOCUMENT: Florida, Crime

Husband Busted For Choking Wife Over Chicken

Argument over leftovers ended with felony counts

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Fried Chicken Choking

SEPTEMBER 15--Meet Desmond Leon Brownlee.

The Floridian, 45, was arrested early this morning for allegedly choking his wife during a dispute over fried chicken, police report.

Brownlee began arguing with his wife “over not having enough fried chicken leftovers,” according to a police report. Shay Alamo, Brownlee’s wife of four years, told investigators that the 3 AM dispute escalated into a physical confrontation.

Alamo, 40, said that Brownlee pushed her into their bedroom, where he then shoved her onto the bed. Brownlee, Alamo said, struck her multiple times in the face and strangled her to the point of “not being able to breathe.”

Alamo, who broke free and dialed 911, told a sheriff’s deputy who responded to the couple’s Deltona home that she did not want to press charges against Brownlee, a stay-at-home parent to the duo’s young daughter (who was sleeping while her parents quarreled).

A deputy reported noticing red marks on Alamo’s neck and a laceration on her lower lip.

When questioned, Brownlee said that the couple was “arguing over the leftover food” when Alamo “went wild and just started to slap at him.” He claimed to have just “raised his hands above his head and let her slap him.”

Since Brownlee was judged to be the “primary aggressor” during the confrontation, he was arrested for domestic battery by strangulation, a felony.  He was also charged with witness tampering.

Brownlee is being held in the Volusia County jail, where bond has not been set. (2 pages)