Background: A section of Pinellas Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Jonathan Hasford (Knoxville County Sheriff”s Office/WBIR).
A Tennessee university professor is accused of choking his girlfriend until she could no longer breathe after a fight where she threw flowers.
Jonathan Hasford, 41, has been charged with aggravated domestic assault, the Knoxville Police Department told Law&Crime. The case stretches back to this past St. Patrick’s Day.
On March 17, Hasford was with his 41-year-old girlfriend at a home on Pinellas Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee, a city in the eastern part of the state, according to police.
The couple was arguing, and Hasford had been drinking, local NBC affiliate WBIR reported, citing an arrest warrant. At one point, police said the girlfriend threw flowers across the kitchen and grabbed the defendant’s arm.
Hasford reportedly responded by dragging his girlfriend and pushing her before choking her with his hand until she was unable to breathe. He is alleged to have told her he was going to “teach her a lesson” about touching him.
Police responded to the home, but the defendant had already left, police said. The woman had minor injuries, including a red mark on her throat and an abrasion on the left side of her chin, according to police.
Officers caught up with Hasford later that night and took him into custody.
The defendant’s lawyer told WBIR that his client sees the case as a “deeply personal matter” and expects a “positive conclusion” at his preliminary hearing on May 1.
Hasford is an associate professor of marketing in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, according to the school’s website.
“He holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Kentucky, an MBA from the University of Kentucky and a B.S. in business management from the University of Louisville,” it adds. “His research focuses primarily on how emotions influence consumer decision making.”
