A Leesburg man was detained on battery charges after allegedly strangling his girlfriend during a roadside fight.
Deputies responded to Jordan Jacob Kroll, 26, beating up his girlfriend of eight months in a vehicle on Whitney Road and Garden Drive around 2:45 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
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When they arrived, they saw Kroll leaning over from the driver’s seat into the passenger seat, punching his girlfriend seated there. He was arrested as his girlfriend explained that they had argued about something she couldn’t remember. According to the report, she indicated that they both got physical but declined to elaborate.
Kroll later consented to speak and indicated that the pair had an altercation over the smell of something he opened in his vehicle. In a fit of rage, his girlfriend started hitting him. He eventually had to pull over and get out of the car while it was parked, according to the complaint.
She then locked him out of the car, which enraged him. As a result, he began beating the vehicle until she unlocked it. She attacked him again once he returned inside, and he claimed to have merely struck her in self-defense, according to the report.
However, a witness reported that he was driving north on Whitney Road when he noticed the black passenger car stopped in the middle of the road. Kroll was kicking and pounding the driver’s side glass at the time, before walking over to aggressively open the passenger’s side door. According to the claim, he then yanked the girlfriend’s hair.
The witness proceeded to watch as Kroll placed his hands around the girlfriend’s throat and strangled her on the ground. He then rummaged inside the vehicle before entering on the driver’s side. The witness remembered the girlfriend getting into the car and sitting back. He never saw her hit Kroll, according to the investigation.
When questioned again, the girlfriend stated that she was strangled at one point and briefly lost her capacity to breathe. She reiterated that she struck Kroll but explained that it was partially in self-defense. According to the report, she developed redness in her throat, arms, and face, as well as stretching over the collar of her garment.
Kroll continued to deny strangling his lover. He had a tiny laceration in his brow and little redness on his arms. According to the complaint, both he and the girlfriend were sweating profusely.
Kroll was considered to be the major aggressor and charged with battery by strangulation (dating violence) and simple battery (dating violence). The Wisconsin native was taken to Lake County Jail and freed after posting a $3,500 bond.
