AMHERST — A 19-year-old member of the unregistered University of Massachusetts Amherst Theta Chi fraternity is facing a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge after he allegedly placed a woman in a chokehold at an Oct. 23 party.
Grady Culhane, of Bedford, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Oct. 27, where he was released on personal recognizance and ordered to stay away from the victim and the university.
Amherst police brought the charges against Culhane on Oct. 25, two days after the alleged incident. According to a statement of facts written by Amherst police Officer Lindsay Carroll, the victim’s report of the alleged assault was corroborated by other partygoers.
“[The victim] was outside the fraternity in the backyard. Culhane came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck, using what she believed to be his right forearm, pulling her backwards,” Carroll wrote. “She said that Culhane was dragging her backwards, toward the fence, away from the house. [The victim] stated that she immediately began to feel like she could not breathe. She thought she was going to die. She then fell to the ground and was on her stomach, while Culhane was over her.”
While the victim was on the ground, she told police, Culhane stood over her and pulled up with his arm so his forearm was still “actively cutting off her air supply and she could not breathe,” according to court documents. She told police she tried to call for help but could not speak.
“She somehow turned over and was looking up at him. She had never ever seen Culhane before,” Carroll wrote. “While on top of her, he began to yell at her, ‘Get the [expletive] out of here, [expletive].’ He kept repeating it three to four times.”
The victim was photographed with red marks on her neck, chest and a portion of her shoulder. She reported experiencing headaches, coughing, anxiety, hyperventilating, difficulty speaking and painful swallowing.
According to court documents, Culhane told his roommate he had seen reports of the incident circulating on TikTok and Yik Yak. The roommate told police that Culhane said he had been working security for the fraternity and saw some people jump the fence to get into the party. Culhane said he chased them down and grabbed the victim, but let her go once he realized she was a woman, the roommate told police.
Culhane’s roommate told police that he had since left the fraternity house for his parents’ residence in Bedford and had “ghosted,” or failed to respond to, any of his fraternity brothers in the days following the incident.
The Theta Chi fraternity, located at 496 N. Pleasant St., remains unrecognized and unregistered by the university after it was suspended in 2025.
The fraternity became the center of campus protests in 2021 after allegations of sexual assaults occurring at the fraternity house surfaced on social media.
On Oct. 26, students marched to the fraternity house in protest.
Culhane is scheduled to return to court Jan. 8 for a pretrial hearing.
