Pennsylvania man faces strangulation charge

A Pennsylvania man was charged with assault and strangulation July 18, after police say he argued with his girlfriend in a Rehoboth Beach hotel.

Rehoboth Beach police were called to a hotel in the ocean block of Olive Avenue at 10:18 a.m. after a couple had been arguing for hours, police said. The argument became physical when, police said, Joseph Milano, 45, of Columbia, Pa., hit his girlfriend, 34, also of Pennsylvania, in the face, choked her and then tried to smother her with a pillow.

The woman was able to free herself by kicking Milano, police said, and she suffered multiple contusions and minor lacerations. Officers took Milano into custody without incident and charged him with two counts of felony strangulation, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, third-degree assault, offensive touching and disorderly conduct. He was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution in default of $15,000 cash bail.