Miramar officer accused of strangling his girlfriend after quarrel over relationship status
.jpg "A Miramar police officer is accused of strangling his girlfriend of nine months as a heated argument in their Hialeah home escalated.")
A Miramar police officer is accused of strangling his girlfriend as a heated argument in their Hialeah home escalated outside.
Orlando Marrero, 24, was arrested Sunday night and has been charged with domestic battery by strangulation. Authorities were called to the home by an off-duty Medley police sergeant who witnessed part of the struggle.
Marrero has been with Miramar police since August 2022. He’s now relieved of duty as the investigation moves forward, according to department spokesperson Tania Rues.
“The Miramar Police Department takes incidents of this nature very seriously, and we want to assure you that we are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability within our department,” Chief Derlish Moss said in a statement.
According to the arrest report, the argument between Marrero and his girlfriend of nine months began when he told her he wanted to break up and move out of their shared home just before Christmas. The scuffle escalated when Marrero’s girlfriend slammed a computer mouse on the floor, breaking it.
Marrero, his girlfriend told investigators, then grabbed her by the throat, strangling her to the point she began to see “stars,” the report says.
The woman also told police that Marrero placed her in a headlock after she struggled to get away from him. She broke free and called her son for help, the woman added, but Marrero slapped the phone out of her hand.
As she ran down the stairs to retrieve it, Marrero followed and wrapped his arms around her body, the report says. She broke free once again, rushing out of the home.
But the fight didn’t end there, according to the report. Once outside, Marrero wrapped his arms around his girlfriend until the off-duty officer separated the couple. The witness told investigators he heard the woman shouting “let me go” as Marrero wrestled with her.
The woman had bruises on her arms and scratch marks around her shoulder blades, an officer noted in the report.
Marrero has since bonded out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
