BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge police officer has been placed on administrative leave as the department investigate allegations of domestic abuse filed against him.

A BRPD spokesperson says Jeffery Newman, a field training officer, was placed on paid leave after Zachary police arrested him overnight. 

According to arrest records, Newman was transferring files from his girlfriend's old cell phone to her new device when he came across photos of another man. He also found a photo of her wearing lingerie alongside the father of her children. She claimed the photos were old and taken before the two began dating.

The woman told investigators Newman became irate and started screaming at her. She says he then pushed her to the ground and began choking her after she swung back. Newman allegedly released her once she scratched his face but started strangling her a second time while she was on the ground. 

Police say both of the victims 6-year-old children were inside the Zachary home at the time of the incident.

The woman reportedly escaped to the home of another Baton Rouge officer who contacted Zachary police.

Newman was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Friday morning on charges of domestic abuse battery by strangulation and child endangerment. He was released on bond later that afternoon.