CLERMONT, Fla. – A Clermont police supervisor is accused of threatening to kill a woman, choking her after she disagreed with him about how he was treating their children, according to the arrest report.
According to the arrest report, Erwin Ramirez demanded the victim apologize to him on Sunday after they had been arguing throughout the week about his treatment of the children. The victim told police, Ramirez "came at her aggressively" and she fell to the ground in the fetal position. She said when she tried to leave Ramirez would not let her, or let her use her phone.
Later, as the victim was preparing a bottle for her baby, Ramirez, still wearing his Clermont police uniform and gun belt, came up to her and told her to "fix things." When she didn't comply, Ramirez grabbed a knife and her arm, saying "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you?" according to the report.
The victim begged for forgiveness on her knees as Ramirez continued to say he should "kill her," the report states. The victim told police Ramirez then choked her so hard "I felt my eyes bulging out of my head."
Ramirez then reportedly told the victim that "it was too late, I have to kill you now." Again, the victim got on her knees and begged her abuser not to kill her, as she truly believed he would, the report states.
In the last nine years, the victim told police, Ramirez has repeatedly hit her, thrown her, spit at her and threatened her with knives, guns and hammers.
Ramirez was arrested Sunday on charges of felony battery domestic violence by strangulation and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Clermont police officials said he is on paid administrative leave pending the investigation. He remains in the Lake County Jail without bail.
Ramirez was hired in 2007 by the department and is currently a road patrol supervisor.
“Police officers are held to very high standards and It’s an unfortunate event and very disheartening whenever a police officer is charged criminally," Clermont police Chief Charles Broadway said following the arrest. "This arrest is in no way indicative of the fine men and women of the Clermont Police Department who commit their lives to service, building community trust, and day in and day out earn the title of the Finest Professionals.”
Victims of domestic violence can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, available 24 hours a day, at 1-800-799-7233, or in Central Florida, the Harbor House 24-hour confidential crisis hotline at 407-886-2856.