HARTFORD, Conn. — The director of student conduct at Central Connecticut State University has been placed on administrative leave after he was accused of kidnapping and strangling a woman in his Hartford home last week.
Christopher Dukes, 45, faces a number of charges and has been released after posting bond.
CCSU students told Channel 3 that they were baffled by the allegations against Dukes. They said it’s the people who work at the school who they look up to.
Dukes’ neighbors also said they were shocked.
Court documents detailed the violence one woman said she endured at the hands of Dukes.
Neighbor accounts suggest the violence might have started because of infidelity.
Channel 3’s cameras were there when police were at his Monroe Street home in Hartford after the alleged incident took place.
The documents show the victim claimed Dukes “grabbed her around the throat and began strangling her to the point where she reported that she could not breathe.”
The report also stated that Dukes put the victim in a headlock, forced her down the stairs to the basement and bound her hands and mouth with strips of duct tape.
Finally, court documents said the terror ended when Dukes called his mother.
Students at CCSU called the allegations unsettling.
“It does make me feel concerned,” said Gloria Pappalardo, a CCSU senior. “I hope this is an incentive for the new president to be a bit more strict when it comes to these situations.”
“It doesn’t make a bad shadow on the school, but it does raise more questions,” said Yulissa Delvalle, an incoming student.
Police showed up at Dukes’ home where they said they found the victim outside, barefoot and in a robe. She had scratches on her face and red marks on her neck.
When officers searched the house, they found 11 guns, nine of which were registered to Dukes.
One of those guns, a handgun, was found loaded on the kitchen table.
However, the victim said Dukes never threatened her with it.
Dukes was not available for comment.
Dukes is the latest CCSU employee to be placed on leave in the wake of serious allegations.
Last month, multiple women accused associate theater professor Joshua Perlstein of sexual misconduct.
The school continues to look into the allegations against Perlstein.
