Maryland man acquitted of harming daughter

By Linda Cicoira

Strangulation and abduction charges against a Maryland man were dismissed Thursday by Accomack Circuit Court Judge W. Revell Lewis III before the outcome could be deliberated by a jury. The panel then acquitted the 44-year-old of assault and battery of a family member.

The 12 members also convicted Rueben Darnell Brinson Jr., who has addresses in Quantico and Fruitland, of reckless driving for which he was given a 60-day suspended sentence.

Brinson said he did not like the way his daughter had been speaking to him and was trying to get her to calm down. She said he threw her cell phone out the window, put her in a headlock, pulled her by the hair, banged her head against the console of the car, and stopped her from jumping out of the vehicle by swerving the car.

The daughter testified that she was 18 when the incident occurred on June 21 as they were returning to Maryland from Chincoteague. She said he threatened to kill her three times during the dispute.

A sibling was in the vehicle but did not attend the trial. He told police his sister and father started arguing. “His father tackled his sister and was choking her (and) he had to pull his father off his sister.”