Dolphins' Amaya charged with battery

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Miami Dolphins' Jonathon Amaya is facing a charge of battery after allegedly choking a cab driver in Miami-Dade County.

Amaya, 24, was arrested and charged after a dispute early Monday over a 40-mile trip from a Miami Beach nightclub to Weston, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Tuesday.

The cab driver, Salvador Vunge, 44, said in the Miami Beach police incident report Amaya put his hands around Vunge's neck and choked him, noting that fearing for his own safety, Vunge returned Amaya to the nightclub instead of taking him to his destination.

The incident report said Vunge did not sustain injuries. But Monday, he said he felt internal pain and was bleeding from the ear when he returned home, the newspaper said.

Amaya was booked into a Miami-Dade County jail Monday morning and was later released on bond, a Corrections Department spokesman said.