ATLANTA — The wife of Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna told police that she and her husband were having an argument over infidelity before he choked her and threw her against a wall, according to court documents.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden obtained an arrest affidavit for Ozuna, 30, who was arrested Saturday and charged with felony assault following the alleged incident.
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Ozuna’s wife told police that she was taking a shower when her husband entered the bathroom and took her both of her cellphones and refused to give them back after she confronted him.
“He threatened to kill her and she threatened to call 911,” the affidavit said. “She took his cellphone from a table and called 911.”
Investigators say Ozuna left the Sandy Springs home with his wife’s phones and she chased him around the property. At some point, Ozuna warned his wife in Spanish that he was “not going to hit her harder because the police were en route,” according to the arrest affidavit.”
Ozuna’s wife ran back inside the couple’s home, where she locked the front door, while remaining on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.
“She told the 911 operator that said accused was coming back and grabbed a large kitchen knife from a drawer,” according to an arrest affidavit. “Accused re-entered the house via the garage door and into the kitchen where she was. He continued to yell and verbally abuse her. Therefore, said accused held the knife by her hip and warned said accused that if he got closer, she was going to hurt him.”
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Ozuna’s wife told police that she was afraid for her life due to his “aggressive behavior and being physically abusive towards her in the past,” court documents revealed.
Ozuna’s wife told police that her husband refused to give her her phone back, so she dropped the knife and walked toward him and then “grabbed him by the waistband of his pants” while attempting to reach for her phones, according to an arrest affidavit.
Ozuna’s wife told police that her husband refused to give her phones back and held them over his head, so she couldn’t reach them.
“Accused then brought his hand down and punched her in the back of the hands with the cellphones (that he held in his right hand), according to an arrest affidavit. " Accused then pushed his left hand and forearm (which was in a hard cast) against victim’s face pushing her back and mushing her in the face with it several times. "
The fight continued, police say, when Ozuna’s wife says her husband pushed her to the ground as they continued to tussle over the phone.
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“Victim stated that said accused grabbed her by her throat by wrapping his fingers around,” an investigator wrote in an arrest affidavit. “He then held her up against the wall, preventing her from breathing.”
Court documents show that Ozuna stopped assaulting his wife as soon as police entered the couple’s home.
When interviewed by police, Ozuna admitted to taking both of his wife’s cellphones and the argument turned physical when he pushed her to the ground. He told police that she kicked him while she was on the ground and he exited the home with her phones but when he returned she had knife in her hand, according to investigators.
He told police that she dropped the knife and continued to demand her phones and that’s when he exited the home, but she followed him outside and tried to throw a garden light at him but missed, according to the affidavit.
Ozuna told police he followed her back in the house where she had picked up the same knife as they continued to argue over infidelities and the phones.
Police say Ozuna tried to change the order of events when asked to give a second statement.
Police at the scene observed “several purple and red bruises on back of victim’s hand consistent with trauma to the back of her hands. In addition to that , she had redness on her right forearm, consistent with being pushed and tossed around as described above. Upon arrival, I noticed redness on the left side of her forehead. Although there were no marks on her neck, the strangulation was witnessed by an officer.”
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