A man has been arrested after domestic dispute in Willimantic escalated to assault, according to police, and his mother is accused of trying to prevent the victim from filing charges against her son.
Police responded to a domestic dispute on Main Street Monday and said 27-year-old William Ortiz, of Ash Street had pushed and choked a woman, repeatedly knocked her cell phone out of her hand to keep her from calling 911 and blocked the bedroom door when the victim tried to free herself from Ortiz’s grasp.
Three children were home and saw Ortiz assault their mother, police said. The woman was able to scream for the children to go to a neighbor’s house for protection.
Police said Ortiz is not the children’s biological father.
He fled when officers responded to the house, but police found him at his mother’s Ash Street home and said his mother, 48-year-old Belinda Ortiz, was texting and calling the victim, demanding that she drop the charges so that her son would not get into trouble, police said.
Ortiz resisted arrest spit on officers, but was eventually taken into custody.
Ortiz is being charged with kidnapping, interfering with an officer, unlawful restraint, disorderly conduct, strangulation, interfering with an emergency call, assault on a police officer and risk of injury to a minor.
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Bond was set at $75,000.00
Belinda Ortiz was charged with tampering with a witness and bond was set at $10,000.
