Off-Duty NYPD Officer Allegedly Choked Wife: Investigators

An off-duty police officer was arrested Saturday morning on charges accusing him of beating and choking his wife.

Officer Richard Phipps, 42, fought with his wife and began to choke her in front of the couple's teenage daughter at their home in Jamaica, Queens, investigators said.

Their 16-year-old daughter tried to intervene, but was shoved away by Phipps, police said.

Phipps, a 16-year veteran of the force, was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, assault, harassment and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

His wife wasn't seriously injured, police said.

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