HARMAN — A Belington man was taken into custody and sent to the Tygarts Valley Regional Jail after he allegedly attacked his girlfriend from the back seat of a car and strangled her in January.

Austin Jared Huffman, 35, has been charged with felony strangulation stemming from the incident, which took place in the town of Harman. Huffman is currently lodged in the TVRJ on a $40,000 cash-only bond set, by Randolph County Magistrate Tracy Harper.

According to a criminal complaint, Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Deputy James Wolfe responded to a 911 call for a domestic dispute in the Harman area of Randolph County on Jan. 22. Once on scene, a woman told Wolfe that her sister-in-law had been choked out by Huffman.

The deputy proceeded to a location where the alleged victim was at and was told by her that Huffman had come to her workplace and was in “some kind of mood.” She told the deputy that she left work to take him home and that he rode in the backseat of the car. 

The alleged victim said that Huffman began to choke her from the back seat or the car while she was driving down the road. She told the deputy that she lost consciousness for several seconds, according to the report.

Huffman told police that the two had been fighting and that she had hit him. When asked if he had put his hands around her neck, he replied, “I mean, we were fighting in the car, I think I did, you know.”

According to the complaint, Huffman had visible bruising on his face, and when the deputy asked the alleged victim if she was the cause of the bruising, she replied, “He beats the crap out of himself. He sat in my car literally like fisting his face.” The victim admitted to pushing Huffman away while he was trying to “choke her out.”