NJ man strangles woman in disturbing domestic violence attack

🔴 Atlantic City man sentenced to 5 years for violent domestic assault involving strangulation.

🔴 Case highlights strict New Jersey laws after strangulation was upgraded to a serious second-degree crime.

🔴 Experts warn that strangulation makes abuse far more likely to turn deadly.

ATLANTIC CITY — A local man has been sentenced to five years in prison for strangling and punching a woman in a domestic violence attack, authorities said.

Derrick Lewis, 64, must serve over four years of his term behind bars before he is eligible for parole. Lewis was sentenced on Tuesday, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.

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Prosecutors said that on June 28, Lewis attacked a woman along Atlantic Ave. near the Renaissance Plaza shopping center in Atlantic City. Authorities did not identify the victim, but said it was a case of domestic violence.

Police said that Lewis struck the woman while they were inside her vehicle. He punched and kicked her in the face and ribs repeatedly, and then strangled her, according to prosecutors.

She escaped from the vehicle and got help from a bystander. Lewis wasn't there when police officers arrived, but he was found later the same day.

Why strangulation cases in New Jersey carry harsher penalties

In December, Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault on a domestic violence victim.

Strangulation assaults in New Jersey are treated with an extra weight compared to most other domestic violence cases. Victims who are strangled are seven times more likely to die at the hands of their abusive partners, according to the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence.

In 2021, then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law to make strangulation a second-degree offense in domestic violence assaults. It carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The law was signed just days after the killing of Yasemin Uyar, who was kidnapped along with her toddler by the child's father.

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