A 77-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly strangling a 23-year-old woman on their first date.
Alan Richard Schmitt, from Virginia, was arrested at the home of the woman, who has not been named, after she claimed he attacked her following conversations on a dating website.
The woman said that she had rejected Mr Schmitt’s advances and said she was not looking for a relationship after realising he was older than he had claimed to be.
He did however manage to persuade her to accompany him to a shopping centre, after which the altercation occurred.
Mr Schmitt apparently bought her $400 (£300) worth of clothes before taking her back to her home.
It was at this point he demanded she return all of the items he had bought, including the shirt that she was wearing.
When she refused to give the shirt back, he apparently “grabbed her around the neck and threw her to the ground”, according to WAVY.com.
The woman claimed he then “got on top of her” and “proceeded to choke her, causing her to struggle to breathe.” In the altercation her necklace was also torn off.
Officer Jeremy Cumming, who wrote the criminal complaint, said: 'I observed her necklaces were in pieces, and there were small bleeding scratches around her neck.”
Mr Schmitt claimed that when he went to get the clothes back from the woman, she “stepped in front of him” and “pushed him in his face”.
At this point he said he lost his balance and reached out, grabbing her neck.
He has been charged with strangling of another causing wounds or injury and will appear in court on 14 November.
