A 34-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested Thursday and booked on felony assault by strangulation along with a string of other domestic violence charges stemming from an alleged attack earlier this month. Daquari Garrison McCray now faces charges including battery of an unborn child, false imprisonment, injury to personal property and interfering with emergency communication, and online records indicate he is being held without bond.
According to WCTI, online arrest warrants allege McCray assaulted a woman on Oct. 1, leaving marks on her throat. The warrants further allege that the woman was about 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack. The warrant itself was issued the same day, Oct. 1, though McCray was not taken into custody until this week.
Allegations Include Restraint and Blocked 911 Call
Beyond the strangulation allegation, online records allege McCray unlawfully restrained the woman during the encounter. The same records allege he damaged her cellphone and interfered with her attempt to call 911 for help, according to the station's report.
Those additional allegations form the basis for the false imprisonment, injury to personal property and interfering with emergency communication charges McCray now faces, per the same account. He is also charged with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence tied to the overall incident.
What North Carolina Law Says About the Charges
Under North Carolina law, assault that inflicts physical injury by strangulation is treated as a Class H felony unless another statute calls for a harsher punishment, according to the North Carolina General Statutes. The battery of an unborn child charge draws from a separate statute that applies when someone commits a battery against a pregnant woman, the child is later born alive, and the child suffers serious bodily harm as a result, per the North Carolina General Statutes.
A third statute addresses interference with emergency communication, stating that it is unlawful for a person to intentionally interfere with an emergency call, according to the North Carolina General Statutes. The full text of that provision was not available in the records reviewed for this report.
Online records state that bond was not authorized in McCray's case, though the procedural reasoning behind that decision was not detailed in the available filings. No court date, plea or case disposition had been reported as of Thursday, and no statement from McCray, an attorney, law enforcement or prosecutors had been made public.
