CAMBRIDGE, Md. - A Cambridge man is facing multiple charges after police said he strangled a woman and later barricaded himself inside a home before surrendering Sunday morning.
According to the Cambridge Police Department, officers met with a woman at the police department at about 5:42 a.m. Sunday after she reported having been assaulted at a home in the 600 block of School House Lane.
Police said Alberto Pacheco Santana Jr., 35, of Cambridge, entered the home, repeatedly hit the woman and then grabbed her around the neck with both hands, strangling her. A child inside the home intervened, allowing the woman to get away and run to a car with the children.
As the woman attempted to leave, police said Santana blocked the car door from closing and walked alongside the car as she drove away. Police said he then slammed the car door hard enough to deploy the airbag, causing the woman to be injured even more so. She was able to leave the area and drive to the Cambridge Police Department.
Officers reported observing injuries consistent with the woman's account. She later went to the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Dorchester for treatment, according to police.
Police responded to the home and found the front door open. Officers said they saw Santana through a second-floor window, but he locked the door while they attempted to communicate with him and refused to come outside.
Members of the Cambridge Police Department Special Response Team, Criminal Investigation Division, K9 Unit, Negotiations Team and Drone Team responded, along with the Talbot County Crisis Response Team, which includes the Talbot County Sheriff's Office and Easton Police Department.
During negotiations, police said Santana claimed he was in the 400 block of Skinners Court, prompting officers to check that address before determining he was lying. While investigators prepared search and arrest warrants, negotiators re-established contact with Santana by phone and convinced him to surrender. He came out of the home and was taken into custody without further violence at about 7:46 a.m., police said.
Santana was processed at the Cambridge Police Department, appeared before a court commissioner and was turned over to the Dorchester County Department of Corrections without bond. Police charged him with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and obstruct and hindering.
