Thomas Griffin (Polk County Jail).
A Florida teacher is behind bars after he allegedly barged into his ex-girlfriend’s home and assaulted her new boyfriend.
The woman said she was at her home on Saturday in Lake Wales when she heard loud banging on her door, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit. She went to the door and found her ex-boyfriend, 51-year-old Thomas Griffin, standing outside and demanding to know the whereabouts of her new boyfriend, police said.
Griffin allegedly pushed his way inside and began searching the house for the new boyfriend and saw him sitting on the couch. According to cops, Griffin grabbed the man by his throat and slammed him against the wall, holding him there for about 10 seconds. The man was unable to breathe, cops noted in the affidavit.
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Griffin let go and the victim walked away. But Griffin again got into the man’s chest, and then punched him in the face, causing the victim to fall onto the ground, police said. The suspect allegedly got on top of the man and started whaling on his face. With the new boyfriend unable to break loose, the woman intervened and tried to pull Griffin away, police said. Griffin got up and ran out of the house. She called 911. The woman’s son also was at the home during the assault but neither was injured.
When deputies and paramedics arrived, the victim was in “obvious distress.” They transported him to the hospital. He had red marks around his neck.
Deputies obtained an arrest warrant for charges of burglary, battery by strangulation and false imprisonment. They went to his home but couldn’t find him. On Tuesday, they found him and took him to the Polk County Jail where he remains without bond.
According to the sheriff’s office, Griffin teaches at McLaughlin Middle School in Lake Wales. The school district placed Griffin on administrative leave while they conducted an internal investigation.
“The suspect forced his way into the home and violently attacked the victim. As a teacher, hopefully a former teacher, Griffin holds a position of trust in our community — a trust that has been severely broken. School students should not be exposed to this kind of potential volatile behavior,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
