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Off-Duty NYPD Officer Chokes Wife During Fight Over Gym Time, Police Say

By Nicholas Rizzi | February 1, 2016 1:40pm

NEW SPRINGVILLE — An off-duty NYPD officer was arrested for choking his wife during an argument about the amount of time he spent in the gym, prosecutors and police said.

His wife was also arrested after she hit him in the head with a cognac bottle during the row at 10 a.m. Saturday, officials said.

Mehmet Kanbur, 35, and his wife Belkiz Kanbur, 36, were both arrested inside their Elmwood Park Drive home. The fight happened in the presence of their 9-year-old daughter, prosecutors said.

Mehmet Kanbur pushed his wife into a wall, choked her then punched her in the eye, prosecutors said.

Belkiz Kanbur hit her husband in the head with a cognac bottle, pulled a chain off his neck, scratched him and shoved him during the fight, prosecutors said.

It's not clear who attacked first, prosecutors said.

The fight left Belkiz Kanbur with scratch marks on her hands, redness on her neck, her ankle swollen and her eye discolored, prosecutors said. Mehmet Kanbur had cuts to his head and scratches on his shoulder and neck, officials said.

Mehmet Kanbur was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child at his arraignment on Sunday, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.

He was released without bail and is due back in court on Friday.

Belkiz Kanbur was charged with assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child and was released without bail. She is due back in court on Friday, the DA's office said.

Their lawyers could not be reached for comment.