This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A St. George man is accused of choking his 15-year-old daughter until she was unconscious when she tried to intervene as he was attacking her mother.
In charges filed Monday in 5th District Court, police wrote that the man, 34, attacked his wife early Oct. 25, punching her and throwing his toolbox at her head.
In an audio recording that St. George police say came from a child's cellphone, the man can be heard screaming that he would "mercy kill" his wife as he choked her, police wrote.
The wife "could be heard unable to breathe multiple times during the recording," police wrote. "[The suspect] continued to choke her to almost unconsciousness multiple times."
When the man's 15-year-old daughter confronted him, he attacked her, police wrote, allegedly striking her in the face multiple times, knocking her to the ground and choking her to unconsciousness.
She awakened when he began beating her mother again, police wrote. The man told the daughter that "she should never [have] stepped in and she will now deal with what she has done," police wrote.
Two other children were in the house during the assault, police wrote.
When officers arrived, the man was drunk, and he fled from them, police wrote. He later was arrested in Iron County on suspicion of drunk driving after his vehicle struck a deer.
The man was charged with first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping, second-degree felony aggravated assault and child abuse inflicting serious physical injury, three third-degree felony counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child and misdemeanor criminal mischief.
Twitter: @erinalberty