Iowa City police charged local boxer Kathryn Klinefelter with assault after she allegedly attacked a man over a political debate.

Klinefelter, 23, and her fiancé, Stephen Michael Smith, 28, were charged Sunday with assault causing bodily injury.

Complaints said officers responded to the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., after noticing a large group of people arguing outside, and they later learned Klinefelter and Smith allegedly punched and choked a man before fleeing on foot.

The alleged victim told police Klinefelter was a professional boxer whom he has known since elementary school, adding she punched him in the face during a political debate.

When the man exited the restaurant to request that Klinefelter’s fiancé ask her to leave, she allegedly came out to the patio and punched him several more times.

Complaints said Smith then grabbed the alleged victim and put him in a “headlock choke-hold” as Klinefelter cheered, “Get him, Steve.”

Assault causing bodily injury is a serious misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $1,875.

— by Brian Albert