Mahwah Man Strangled Driver Who Stopped For School Bus: Police

MAWHAH, NJ — A Mahwah man was charged with strangulation last week for attacking a driver who stopped for a school bus, police said Wednesday.

Aston Hamilton, 45, was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and simple assault, said Mahwah Police Captain Michael Blondin.

Blondin said that around 8:40 a.m., police responded to Glasgow Terrace on a report of a dispute in progress.

Police determined that two victims — a man, 78, and his 68-year-old wife — were inside a landscaping vehicle that stopped for an approaching school bus with its lights activated.

When the pair stopped, a man approached them to complain that they'd stopped in front of his house, police said.

The bus left, and the couple continued to their job site.

The man came to the site and approached the woman "in what was described as a threatening manner," police said.

The husband approached both, and Hamilton threw him to the ground, kicked him, put both hands around his neck, and applied pressure, police said.

The man was unable to breathe, police said. His wife tried to help, but the man threw her to the ground and fled.

Police issued a warrant for Hamilton.

That night, Hamilton turned himself in at Police Headquarters. He was taken to the Bergen County Jail to await a court hearing, Blondin said.