CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County man is now behind bars after a 10-hour standoff with police, involving four children trapped inside. It started early Friday morning in Ellenwood in the Park at Fort Gillem apartment complex.
Nicky Williams told 11Alive's Tracey Amick-Peer she and her boyfriend, Clarence Darty, got into an argument around midnight and then her son called 911.
"My 9-year-old initially called the police and at that time it was a verbal (argument), so I asked police not to come out," said Williams
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But she said as soon as she hung up the phone, it turned physical.
"That’s when he grabbed me by the neck and started choking me and I blacked out," Williams said. "I could've died - he had a good grip on my neck."
Waking up later to police lights, she said she quickly ran outside
"He closed the door and wouldn’t open it and wouldn't let them outside," Williams said of the children who were still inside the apartment.
Still inside were her two children and Darty's two children.
"I just couldn't figure out why he wasn't coming outside after all those hours and hours and hours," said Williams.
10 hours later, he let the children go and was arrested by police.
Clarence Darty is now facing a number of charges including four counts of cruelty to children, four counts of false imprisonment and aggravated assault by strangulation.
Williams said now he will have to deal with the consequences.
"There is never a reason for a man to put his hands on a woman," she said.
Darty is expected to go before a judge in Clayton County on Saturday morning .
