Cops say he broke his ex's car window, choked her, stole her phone — then tried to run

A Homestead man is accused of going to his former girlfriend's place of work in Key Largo, blocking her exit from the parking lot with his vehicle, breaking her window, choking her when she wouldn't get out of her car and stealing her cellphone.

Jorge Diaz, 48, faces a list of charges, including battery, domestic battery, aggravated stalking and larceny.

According to Monroe County Sheriff's Office Deputy Benjamin Elmore's arrest report, Diaz was waiting for the victim in the parking lot of Gilbert's Resort, a marina, bar and restaurant underneath the Jewfish Creek Bridge in Key Largo, shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday. When the woman got into her 2017 Dodge car, Diaz blocked her access to the ramp to U.S. 1 with his 2003 Hummer, Elmore wrote in his report.

Diaz got out of his vehicle and demanded the woman get out of her car. When she refused, he broke the driver's side window with his hands and choked the woman, Elmore wrote in his report. He then took her Galaxy cellphone and headed north on U.S. 1 on the 18 Mile Stretch, which leads in and out of the Keys from Florida City.

Deputy Ignacio Molina pulled over the Hummer about three miles up the highway at mile marker 109 and ordered Diaz out of the vehicle at gunpoint. He had minor cuts on his hands and arms from the shattered window, which Molina stated in his report, Diaz admitted to breaking.

The woman had visible marks on her neck from being choked, according to Elmore's report.

The witness who called 911 also reported seeing Diaz break the window, sheriff's spokesman Adam Linhardt said.

The woman told deputies that she was contacted earlier in the day by a friend who told her Diaz came to her house in Miami-Dade, told her he was going to kill his ex-girlfriend and left her house "like crazy."

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 12:33 PM.