Alleged Concord Strangler, with a History of Violence, Arrested

CONCORD, NH – A local man was arrested on numerous charges two weeks ago after he allegedly choked and assaulted a woman at his home, according to police.

Kenneth K. Smith, 24, of Alice Drive in Concord, was arrested at 12:21 a.m. on June 24, 2016, and charged with second-degree assault and domestic violence-assault, both felonies, as well as simple assault and domestic violence-simple assault.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the name removal request process for NH Patch police reports.

Officers were sent to a domestic disturbance in an apartment on Alice Drive at just after 11:30 p.m. after a neighbor reported hearing a woman screaming, “Get off me, I can’t breathe,” according to dispatch.

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They arrived at the scene, were let in by a woman, and checked the man – Smith – for weapons.

“Smith appeared hostile and said, ‘Of course, check the black man first,’” the officer alleged.

The officer asked Smith to sit down and he allegedly “became argumentative” and stated it was his house, was already checked for weapons, and didn’t see a reason to have to sit down. The officer asked again, and said it was “an officer safety concern,” and Smith stated that “he was a criminal justice major and knew it was not an officer safety concern.”

“Smith eventually complied and took a seat,” the officer reported.

Another officer spoke to woman who stated that they got home around 10 p.m., she put their children to bed, and he took out the trash and went to get a cellphone. When he returned, they began to argue about their relationship, specifically something Smith reportedly did. During the argument, Smith allegedly pulled her by the hair, grabbed her by the mouth with his fingers, and said she was “disrespectful to him,” according to the report. He allegedly slapped her, poked her in the head, and said she was stupid, as well. Smith then grabbed her by the throat with one hand and began to choke her, she alleged in the report.

The woman got away from Smith and went into the kitchen but he allegedly followed, threw her to the floor, and began choking her from behind, according to the report. She then grabbed his genitals and scratched him in order to try and get away, while also asking him to leave repeatedly.

“I'll make this end badly for you if you call the cops,” she alleged Smith said to her before she called police.

The woman demonstrated for the officer how she was being choked and showed the officer her injuries but the officer noted that the only thing he saw was a mark on her lip and some old bruises on her arm, which the victim said were from older injuries, allegedly by Smith, during previous arguments.

The officer then spoke to Smith who reportedly stated that the argument was verbal only and was about him “hitting up” other girls. The victim was reportedly calling women from his cellphone and started arguments with them, he alleged.

When asked about the bruises on her arm, Smith reportedly said she got them at work and “bruised easily.”

The reporting officer spoke to the neighbor who called 911 and he alleged that he heard her screaming, “heard gasping and choking, near vomiting,” and was scared for the woman’s safety, according to the report.

Smith was then arrested and arraigned later that day.

According to a follow-up report, the reporting officer noted that there had been “ongoing domestic issues between Smith and (the victim),” that there was “a history of domestic violence” with Smith since he was a defendant in a restraining order in 2011. The officer wrote that he would the department’s domestic violence unit meet with the victim in the future, due to the nature of the case.