A Miramar Police officer who has been on the force for less than a year was arrested Monday, accused of choking his girlfriend and pulling her back into their home when she tried to run away, officials said.

Joshua Bogwandas, 26, was hired by the department in December 2022. He was assigned to the patrol division, Tania Rues, a police department spokesperson, said.

Bogwandas’ girlfriend called police early Monday morning after she and Bogwandas spent Sunday night out with friends at a Miami club, according to an arrest affidavit. The woman, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, had bruises, bumps, scratches and a cut lip.

The woman told officers that she and Bogwandas, her boyfriend of two years, left the club to pick up their children at her mother’s house when she saw a text from Bogwandas’ ex-girlfriend appear on his phone. Upset by what she saw, the woman got out of the car and walked the rest of the way to her mother’s house, the affidavit said.

After picking up the children, Bogwandas and his girlfriend drove home. She told Bogwandas she didn’t want to talk about what she saw, but he insisted, the affidavit said. Bogwandas “straddled” her once she laid down on a bed, unable to move, and started choking her.

“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” she told Bogwandas, according to the affidavit.

“I don’t give a [expletive.] If you talking, you can breathe,” Bogwandas said.

His girlfriend escaped to her child’s bedroom, thinking the assault would not continue in front of the child, the affidavit said. Bogwandas then grabbed her by her hair and pulled her into their living room, the affidavit said.

She ran outside, making it several hundred feet before Bogwandas caught up to her. She screamed for help, again escaping his grip and running away. He chased her, ultimately dragging her by her shirt back into their home, the affidavit said.

He continued hitting her in the living room, and she called 911, the affidavit said. When Bogwandas saw she called 911, he fled in a 2006 silver Toyota.

Rues said in an email Tuesday that Bogwandas has been relieved of duty without pay.

An Internal Affairs investigation is underway.

“We encourage all victims of domestic violence to come forward without fear, knowing that we take these matters seriously,” Chief Delrish Moss said in a statement Tuesday. “To this end, Joshua Bogwandas was arrested by Miramar detectives on charges of domestic battery and kidnapping that stem from a domestic incident, which occurred on the same day he was arrested.”

The officer remains in the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail as of Tuesday night. Attorney information was not immediately available.

Angie DiMichele can be reached at adimichele@sunsentinel.com, 754-971-0194 and on Twitter @angdimi.