[FL] Officer Mersch's wife bruised, eye swollen, says she was choked

Springs officer faces domestic battery charge
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL
By Sofia Santana and Sallie James
October 20, 2007
A Coral Springs police officer is on paid administrative leave, following his arrest this week on a domestic battery charge... Charles Mersch... was arrested Wednesday after his ex-wife, whom he lives with, accused him of throwing her to the ground, punching her in the right eye and choking her after she slapped him on the chest several times... Police also photographed a bruise Petra Mersch showed on her left arm and her right eye, which was bruised and swollen at the time the statement was taken... Monday escalated into a physical fight in bed... That's when Petra Mersch slapped her ex-husband, with Charles Mersch responding by throwing her off the bed and onto the ground, where he then got on top of her, choked her and punched her in the eye, police said. "Charles' response was disproportionate to the slapping ... causing visible injuries instead of attempting to leave the residence," Sgt. Shawn Backer wrote in the report...