FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts State Police sergeant charged in New Hampshire with assaulting his girlfriend after she told him she wanted to end their relationship has been suspended without pay, an agency spokesperson said.

Sgt. Bryan Erickson, 38, was suspended indefinitely Thursday following a duty status hearing, Massachusetts State Police spokesperson David Procopio said in a statement. The agency will continue its investigation and monitor Erickson's prosecution in New Hampshire, he said.

Erickson remains jailed without bail in New Hampshire after pleading not guilty Tuesday to second-degree and simple assault, obstructing report of a crime; disobeying an officer; criminal trespass; and reckless operation. His next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Erickson is a former Marine who has received commendations during his time with state police since 2005.

“To say that this man is a danger flies in the face of all he’s done in the past,” his attorney Paul Garrity said, adding, “He’s an exemplary example of the Mass State Police.”

A police affidavit alleges that Erickson, who is married with two children, took his 29-year-old girlfriend's cellphone and threw her on a bed. He allegedly “wrapped her arms around her on the bed and knelt on her upper thigh area so that she could barely breathe and could not move," and “put his hand on her neck and one of her fingers down her throat" to stop her from screaming. Erickson also is accused of head-butting the woman twice.

Police said they responded to a 911 hang-up call at the Exeter, N.H., house and found Erickson in the garage. Police said he drove away at about 80 mph. Erickson was arrested at his home in Groveland early Sunday.