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FILER — A 35-year-old Filer man choked, punched and kneed a teenage girl in her face and threatened to kill her, her friend and their families over an argument she had with his wife while driving, police said.

Joshua Jerome Martinez was charged Thursday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court with two counts of misdemeanor battery.

Police say the attack happened about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Filer’s Union Avenue and Midway Street, where an officer responded and found a 17-year-old girl bleeding from her mouth with scratches on her face and neck.

The girl told police she and her 16-year-old passenger followed a female driver after an argument on the road; then Martinez, the woman’s husband, yelled at the girls, cut them off, jumped out of his SUV and confronted them, court documents said.

The 17-year-old told police she punched Martinez after he pushed her several times, court documents said. Then, as Martinez tried to grab a phone from the passenger who was on the line with a police dispatcher, the 17-year-old pushed Martinez, prompting his attack.