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Tomball Police arrested a man in the process of beating and choking a woman near the Tribune office last week.

Police said that Anthony Aaron Royal, 30, of Tomball, found his ex-girlfriend at a laundry facility on Magnolia Street.

"She fled from him at that time and he caught up to her in an alleyway just south of Main Street," said Tomball Police Cpt. Rick Grassi. "He tried to talk to her about their relationship and didn't like what he heard, because he struck her in the face."

At that point, Grassi said that Royal allegedly grabbed the woman around her neck with his arm and began dragging her down the alleyway. Someone from a nearby restaurant or motel saw the incident and called police.

Police arrived and arrested Royal at gunpoint, where they transported him to the Tomball city jail. He was later transferred to the Harris County Jail.

The victim was transported to the hospital with non life threatening injuries.

Royal is a man who Tomball Police and other law enforcement agencies have dealt with before.

"We arrested him a few months prior to this incident for family violence," Grassi said.

Royal had recently pled no contest last November to those charges and served a little more than a month in the Harris County Jail. He also has a string of prior drug related arrests in Harris County.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office also filed an emergency order of protection against Royal, on behalf of the victim, which a judge approved.

Royal has been charged with a felony domestic violence charge, because he choked the woman. Grassi explained that anytime that an assault occurs where someone impedes the victim's ability to breathe; charges are automatically updated to a third degree felony.

As of press time Royal was still in the Harris County Jail, held with no bond. A court appearance was held Feb. 8, but results of that appearance were not yet available.