A North Charleston man who allegedly strangled his pregnant girlfriend and held a gun to her head in August 2024 walked free for more than two years before police finally caught him this week — and he's not the only domestic violence suspect the system turned loose on victims.
Daquan Edward Cannon was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature after officers found him Monday night sitting in a vehicle during a suspicious-activity call on Stafford Road, according to Live 5 News. The warrant had been sitting there since August 14, 2024, when his girlfriend told police Cannon strangled her and threatened to kill her and her family after she revealed she was pregnant. She also reported he had been assaulting her on and off for two months before that incident. Cannon fled before officers arrived. Then nothing — until a routine patrol nearly 26 months later.
The Post and Courier reported an even more damning case out of the same city. Kobe Marquel Canty, 27, was arrested October 16 after kicking in his partner's bedroom door, strangling her, and chasing her into an apartment breezeway where police found him standing over her bloodied face with what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder. A video of Canty screaming into her face circulated online before police even acknowledged it.
Here's the part that should enrage every American: Canty was already out on bond for doing the same thing to the same woman. On August 2, Canty strangled her in a parking lot — officers found cuts on her chest and finger marks on her neck, according to the arrest affidavit. He was charged with second-degree domestic violence and released hours later on a personal recognizance bond. No cash. No skin in the game. Just a promise to show up.
He didn't just show up. He came back and did it worse.
South Carolina classifies second-degree domestic violence as a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum of three years and a $5,000 fine. That's the ceiling. The floor is often a signature on a bond form and a walk out the door the same day.
The Post and Courier noted Canty has since been granted $25,000 bail on the new charge but remains in custody as of October 22. The North Charleston Police Department posted on its CrimeWatch platform thanking community members who raised concerns about the video — more than three hours after officers had already been on scene.
Live 5 News framed Cannon's arrest straightforwardly as a cold-case resolution. The Post and Courier put the repeat-offender angle front and center, documenting Canty's prior release and the video evidence. Neither outlet pressed officials on why Cannon's warrant sat dormant for two years, or why Canty got a personal recognizance bond after a strangulation.
A man who puts a gun to a pregnant woman's head walks the streets for two years. A man who strangles a woman once gets released on his own promise and strangles her again. The system isn't broken by accident — it's working exactly the way the reformers designed it.
The question neither outlet asked: how many more Daquan Cannons and Kobe Cantys are walking around North Charleston right now, waiting to be found by accident?
