A 41-year-old Schuylkill Haven man is locked up in Schuylkill County Prison after Pennsylvania State Police say he choked his husband during two separate domestic incidents, leaving the victim briefly trapped behind a bathroom door rigged shut with metal brackets. Joseph Richard Christman now faces felony counts of strangulation and aggravated assault, along with simple assault, false imprisonment, and harassment.
According to Skook News, troopers were dispatched to a residence on Kings Lane in North Manheim Township at approximately 9:21 a.m. on Sunday. The victim told police that he and Christman became involved in an argument the day before, on Saturday, that turned physical. Per the criminal affidavit, Christman acknowledged the fight had escalated and admitted he placed his arm around the victim's neck.
Investigators allege Christman impeded the victim's breathing with his forearm for approximately one minute during the confrontation. The same report describes a second incident in which Christman allegedly grabbed the victim from behind during another physical argument and placed him in a chokehold. The investigating trooper observed redness around the victim's neck, a detail noted in the charging documents.
Bathroom Door Rigged With Metal Brackets
Perhaps the most unsettling detail in the case involves the victim's attempt to get away from Christman. According to the affidavit cited by the same outlet, Christman allegedly pulled the victim into a bedroom and, in a separate moment, attached metal brackets to a bathroom door while the victim was inside — preventing him from leaving until the brackets were removed.
Christman was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Pennsylvania State Police Schuylkill Haven barracks for processing. That barracks serves as the primary law enforcement agency covering North Manheim Township, per the Schuylkill County Law Enforcement Directory, since the township has no dedicated municipal police department of its own.
Bail Set at $25,000, Hearing Scheduled for September
Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli set monetary bail at $25,000, which Christman was unable to post. He was committed to Schuylkill County Prison to await further proceedings. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for September 1 before Magisterial District Judge Casimir T. Kosciolek at District Court 21-3-03, located in Orwigsburg, according to Schuylkill County Minor Judiciary records.
Under Pennsylvania law, strangulation committed against a family or household member — including a spouse — is classified as a second-degree felony carrying up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $25,000, according to the Zuckerman Law Firm. Notably, state statute does not require prosecutors to prove physical injury to sustain a strangulation charge, meaning observed signs like neck redness combined with a victim's account can be legally sufficient to support felony charges, per the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Why Strangulation Cases Draw Swift Arrests
Pennsylvania only established strangulation as a standalone criminal offense in 2016 through Act 111; before that law, non-fatal choking incidents without major bodily harm were typically charged as misdemeanor simple assault or summary harassment, the Zuckerman firm notes. That legislative shift reflects growing recognition of how dangerous these incidents can be — national domestic violence research cited by the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention has found that a victim who survives a non-fatal strangulation by an intimate partner faces a 750% increased risk of being killed by that same partner later on.
That lethality risk is part of why Pennsylvania law enforcement officers are authorized to make warrantless, probable-cause arrests in domestic violence cases when they observe recent physical injury or corroborative evidence, under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2711. State law also directs magisterial judges handling domestic violence arraignments to weigh whether a defendant poses a continuing threat to the victim when setting bail and release conditions.
Locally, victims of domestic abuse in Schuylkill County can turn to the Schuylkill Hope Center, which provided free and confidential counseling to more than 1,300 local domestic abuse victims during the 2022–2023 fiscal year, according to the office of Senator Dave Argall. It remains unclear whether a Protection From Abuse order has been filed in this case or whether the victim sought further medical evaluation, and Christman's case now heads toward its preliminary hearing next week in Orwigsburg.
