The Ohio State Highway Patrol has fired the Tiffin-area trooper charged with felony strangulation — one day after TiffinOhio.net first reported the allegations — as newly released police records detail his denial of the assault and how he was taken into custody as he reported for his shift.

The Patrol confirmed Cain’s termination in a written statement to TiffinOhio.net. The agency had initially placed him on unpaid administrative leave after learning of the allegations before moving to fire him. “The Patrol took immediate action upon learning of the allegations, the employee has since been terminated,” the agency said. “The conduct alleged does not reflect the values of this agency.”

Nathaniel H. Cain, 23, faces one count of strangulation, a third-degree felony, in Seneca County Common Pleas Court.

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Cain acknowledged that he and his girlfriend argued and that he said “nasty” things to her, but denied harming her, according to a report written by Tiffin Police Sgt. Joseph P. Feld.

“I didn’t put my hands on her,” Cain told the sergeant, the report states. When Feld described the injuries to the woman’s neck, Cain asked, “And that’s from me?”

The woman, whom TiffinOhio.net is not naming, reported the assault in person at the police station on Tuesday, May 19, the report says.

In a sworn written statement, she said an argument escalated quickly after a night out and that Cain “grabbed my face and squeezed it, breaking my tooth,” then “grabbed my neck and strangled me for about 7 seconds.” She wrote that she did not lose consciousness but “couldn’t breathe.”

Feld wrote that he saw red marks down the center of the front of her neck, a damaged tooth and an injury to her lower lip, and that he photographed the injuries.

The records also clarify how Cain was arrested — a question left open in earlier accounts. After consulting a supervisor and the Seneca County Prosecutor’s Office, Feld learned that Cain was a trooper assigned to the Patrol’s Norwalk Post and was driving there to begin his shift.

Out of safety concerns — the woman told police that Cain owns multiple firearms — Feld notified the commander of the Norwalk Post, who intercepted Cain and drove him to the Tiffin Police Department. After the interview, Cain was taken into custody and booked into the Seneca County Jail, still wearing his uniform pants and boots, the report says.

Feld wrote that he filed the strangulation charge after his lieutenant consulted the prosecutor’s office. Strangulation became a stand-alone felony in Ohio in 2023; before the change, such allegations were typically charged as misdemeanor assault or domestic violence.

Not all records in the case will be released. The Tiffin Police Department said it is withholding the call to dispatch that brought officers into the case, citing Marsy’s Law, the state’s victim-rights amendment. The department said the recording would identify the victim and her location and that it cannot redact the audio.

Cain was held without bond until a judge set bond at $75,000 with conditions on Wednesday, May 20, court records show. He waived a preliminary hearing on May 28 and posted bond the same day. The case, before Common Pleas Judge Damon D. Alt, is being prosecuted by the office of Seneca County Prosecutor Derek W. DeVine and remains pending.

A criminal charge is an allegation. Cain is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted in court.