Ansonia officer accused of choking child pleads guilty to domestic violence charge

An Ansonia Police Officer who allegedly assaulted a child pleaded guilty to one count, according to Darke County Common Pleas Court records.

Christian Idle, 38, was originally facing charges of strangulation and domestic violence in connection to an alleged assault that happened in early August.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence this week.

Idle was sentenced to community control for 12 months, but it could be extended to 60 months.

According to a previous News Center 7 report, a woman and her children lived with Idle on W. Weller Street when the incident occurred.

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A domestic violence complaint was filed claiming Idle “told her she need to get her son out of his house.”

After this comment, the woman followed Idle back into the house and told police he “immediately began striking and kicking her 8-year-old son.”

When Darke County Sheriff’s deputies talked to the child, he said Idle had grabbed him by the neck with two hands and that he also spanked and kicked him several times. The child had redness and bruising around his neck that deputies said appeared to be broken blood vessels.

Idle told deputies he spanked the child multiple times and then held him against a wall “by the back of his neck” before going to get his mother. Idle said he then struck the child again and “gave him a kick in the butt” when the child tried to lie.

He has been an officer with the Ansonia Police Department since August 2017, according to a previous News Center 7 report.

News Center 7 is working to learn if Idle is still on administrative leave or if there has been a change to his employment status.