EASTHAMPTON — Police say a city man tried to strangle his girlfriend to death after he discovered text messages of a sexual nature she had exchanged with other men.
Joseph M. Connor, 27, of 157 Main St. Apt. 2, is being held without the right to bail after being arraigned in Northampton District Court Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, strangulation/suffocation, assault and battery on a family or household member and malicious destruction of property over $250 after police were called to his apartment two times early Saturday morning to break up an argument between the couple.
Upon arriving the second time around at 1:20 a.m., police found the woman with marks around her neck screaming that she wanted to leave. She told police that Connor had punched her in the mouth, pulled her hair and pushed her on the ground before wrapping his hands around her neck on and off for 20 minutes before police arrived. During that period, she told police she believes she lost consciousness several times, “saw stars” and couldn’t breathe, according to court documents.
While being transported to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for treatment, the woman told paramedics that Connor “told her to start saying her ‘good-byes’ to her loved ones because he was going to kill her,” Easthampton Police Officer Andrew Beaulieu wrote in his report.
Police were first called to the apartment about 12:30 a.m. as a result of the couple’s argument. Both said they would resolve the dispute themselves, according to the report. Police allege Connor got violent after they left, when he discovered messages of a sexual nature on the woman’s iPad she had exchanged with other men.
At the time, Connor told police he was angry and confronted her about the possibility of her cheating on him, but insisted the argument never turned physical, according to the report.
After he was arrested, police found the woman’s smashed phone in Connor’s possession. The woman told police that he had damaged her phone when she tried to call her friend to pick her up, according to the report.
The woman declined an offer by police to file a restraining order against Connor, though paramedics convinced her to go “somewhere safe” after being released from the hospital, according to the documents.
Connor has a long history of abuse prevention orders against him, several violations of those orders and lengthy records of assaults and other violent charges, according to Beaulieu’s report.
“In booking, Mr. Connor had no concern regarding the severity of his charges and made comments regarding his ‘$1,000/hour lawyer’ that will get him out of trouble,” Beaulieu wrote.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.