Bluffton woman choked, beaten by boyfriend as she held infant, report says

A Bluffton woman was taken to the hospital Monday after she was allegedly choked and beaten by her boyfriend as she held an infant child, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

A deputy met with the woman at Hilton Head Island Hospital and she said she was assaulted by her live-in boyfriend, Chance Coffey, 21, around 1 p.m .that day at their apartment on Simmonsville Road, the report said. The woman told the deputy that Coffey became upset over a camera that their roommate bought her. The argument, she said, became heated while she was on a bed holding their 2-month-old child. She said Coffey accused her of having a “look” and told her “you know you want to hit me.”

When the woman told him she was not going to hit him, Coffey allegedly grabbed her ankles and started trying to “force her to kick him,” the report said. He also started punching himself in the head and face with both fists, the woman said in the report.

The woman told a deputy that she said “maybe jail time will do you good,”and that it “really set him off.”

He then grabbed her legs and pulled her to the floor. When the woman tried to get up twice, Coffey pulled her back down and “began strangling her,” the report said. “Coffey began squeezing her throat to the point where she couldn’t breathe,” the report said.

At some point during the struggle, the woman said Coffey struck her in her right eye, causing her to get a black eye. She finally freed herself. Coffey helped her up, apologized, and left, the report said.

Deputies were able to locate Coffey the same day when he returned to the apartment. As he was handcuffed, he told a deputy “my old lady’s eye is swollen because of me,” the report said. He told deputies that he and his girlfriend had pushed each other during their argument.

He told a deputy that he has anger problems, but has never sought help for them.

Coffey was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, a felony, and taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.

According to detention Center records, Coffey was released Tuesday.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Bluffton woman choked, beaten by boyfriend as she held infant, report says."