Mesa man arrested after reportedly choking man to death, police say

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A man who reportedly choked a man to death early Tuesday morning has been arrested in Mesa.

Mesa police say they responded to reports of a person with a knife and that a man had choked another man to death at a Mesa apartment complex near Main Street and Recker Road. When officers arrived, they found a man trying to give CPR to a man lying on the ground. He was pronounced deceased at the scene and has not been identified.

Several witnesses pointed officers toward the apartment of 44-year-old Calvin Glasby. Officers said that while talking with Glasby, he “made several spontaneous statements that ‘he had to defend himself,’” court papers say.

One witness told officers he was in his apartment when he overheard Glasby and the victim fighting. The witness said he heard his name being called and then heard the altercation from outside, which is when he went to look. He told officers that’s when he saw Glasby holding a man in a chokehold on the ground and that while he didn’t know what started the fight, he’d overheard rumors from other witnesses that Glasby was having sex with the victim’s girlfriend, according to police documents.

Surveillance video shows the witness and two people tried to get Glasby off of the victim, according to documents. A woman was seen on video Glasby off of the man but leaves after he refuses to let the man go.

A second witness said he was in the parking lot when he heard someone yell, “get him off me,” documents show, which was when he ran to the scene. The witness heard the victim say he couldn’t breathe, according to documents. The witness told Galsby to let the man go and Glasby replied that he was afraid the man would assault him again and continued to choke the victim, documents show.

The first witness said he saw the victim’s eyes roll back into his head, and that’s when the three of them were able to get Glasby off of the man, according to court documents. In total, the witness said he believed Glasby held the victim in a chokehold for around 10 minutes before he told him to stop and seven more minutes went by until they were able to pull Glasby off.

A second witness told officers that he’d heard rumors that Glasby had sex with the victim’s underage daughter, court papers say, said he believed that’s why the two were fighting. He told officers that he’d overheard a man yelling “get him off me” and that he couldn’t breathe, and then saw the victim stop moving, court papers say. He told police he saw his daughter walk over with a knife, court papers say, but that he told her to walk away and took the knife from her. Other witnesses gave similar stories to investigators, police papers say.

Video surveillance confirmed that the two men had been fighting when Glasby pulled the man to the ground by his legs, and then a woman walks over, hits Glasby, and walks away. Around 3 minutes later, the footage shows the first witness and two other men trying to get Glasby off of the victim.

Court papers say Glasby told investigators that he didn’t know the victim except that he is associated with a neighbor across the apartment complex from him. He told officers that the victim had approached him while under the influence of drugs, court papers say, and accused him of having sex with his girlfriend. Glasby said the victim punched him in the face and that he believed the man was trying to kill him, police papers say. He told officers that he tried to pin the victim’s arms but denied ever choking the man or hearing anyone to let the man go or the victim saying he couldn’t breathe, according to court documents.

Glasby was arrested and was found to have multiple prior arrests, including resisting arrest and assault. He now faces various charges, including reckless manslaughter.

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