Riverside Man Strangles Woman With Kids Present: Cops

La Grange IL

27 April, 2021

7:08 AM

Description

RIVERSIDE, IL — A Riverside man strangled a woman and slammed a car door on her last week with small children present, police said. He is also accused of trying to choke the same woman a month ago in a nearby town, but that case was apparently dropped. About 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Riverside police received a number of 911 calls about a disturbance outside an apartment building in the 2800 block of South Harlem Avenue, according to a police news release. The woman who kept calling 911 was cut off, but dispatchers heard yelling in the background, police said. When officers arrived, they found a man beating a woman in the alley, with the woman half in and out of the car, police said. Three- and 5-year-old children were in the back seat, according to the news release. When officers immediately intervened, a fight ensued between the man and officers, police said. They took him into custody. During this time, the apartment complex emptied out, with people, including the suspect's mother, looking to see what happened, police said. Vincente Hernandez Jr., 23, of Riverside, was charged with aggravated felony domestic violence for choking the victim, interfering with the reporting of domestic violence and two counts of resisting arrest. During the fight, police said, Hernandez hit the phone out of the woman's hand twice to keep her from calling 911. The woman had red marks around her neck, clumps of hair laying on the alley pavement, and bruises on her head, face, biceps and arms, according to the police report. Paramedics were summoned, but the woman declined to be taken to the hospital, police said. Police learned that the couple had been at a park between Stickney and Riverside when they argued about losing their car keys in the park. When they arrived at the Riverside apartment complex, the fight got physical, police said. Hernandez slammed the car door on the woman, punched, kicked, pulled her hair out and attempted to strangle her by choking her, police said. The children were turned over to a relative after Riverside police cleared their release with the state Department of Children and Family Services, the release said. After he was arrested, Hernandez said he would shoot a police officer in the head and threatened officers' families, police said. Hernandez's criminal history includes domestic battery cases in Cicero in 2017 and Summit a month ago, police said. His history also consists of obstructing the police, invasion of privacy and disorderly conduct, according to the release. In the news release, Police Chief Tom Weitzel said Hernandez's arrest a month ago in Summit involved choking the same victim. "The case was dropped in court and not prosecuted," Weitzel said. "The victim told the arresting officers and detectives she was never informed of the court date due to the pandemic and somehow or another lost when she was supposed to be at court, and then the court system dropped her case." The pandemic has devastated Cook County's criminal justice system, the chief said.