LEBANON — A 20-year-old Newport man has been charged with second-degree assault and theft of a motor vehicle after allegedly choking his girlfriend early Tuesday morning and then driving away in her car without her permission, police said.
Nickolas S. Kemp allegedly assaulted the 23-year-old woman at a Romano Circle home, choking her “to the point where she could not breathe or talk” during an argument, Lebanon police said in a news release on Thursday. “The female victim fought back to stop the assault and Kemp left the address with another male subject in the victim’s vehicle” around 12:55 a.m., police said.
Police issued a be-on-the-lookout alert for the car, and the vehicle was spotted in Windsor. After a pursuit, Kemp was arrested by Cornish police in that town, authorities said.
Kemp pleaded not guilty to the two charges at his arraignment on Tuesday and is being held on preventive detention, according to court officials.
The man Hartford police have identified as the passenger in Kemp’s car, 22-year-old Manchester resident Nickolas Kempton, is facing a larceny charge after allegedly grabbing cash from a gas station clerk in White River Junction early Tuesday morning and then leaving the scene in Kemp’s car, Hartford police said earlier this week. (Authorities initially misspelled Kemp’s first name Tuesday night.)