Air Force Lt. Col. Brent Byng, 44, was arrested June 23, 2024, and charged with felony counts of child abuse, obstructing justice, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of domestic battery by strangulation, according to service and law enforcement officials. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
An Air Force officer has been removed from command of a special operations training squadron after his arrest this week on charges that he attacked his wife and child, according to service and law enforcement officials.
Lt. Col. Brent Byng had commanded the 19th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field in Florida for about one month before his June 23 arrest, according to the Air Force. He was charged with felony counts of child abuse, obstructing justice, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of domestic battery by strangulation after his arrest by Santa Rosa County sheriff’s deputies, according to his arrest report.
“Lt. Col. Byng was removed from command of the 19th Special Operations Squadron due to the ongoing investigation stemming from charged related to his arrest,” an Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson said in a brief statement on Friday.
Byng, 44, has served on active duty since his commission as a special operations combat systems officer in 2007, according to his service biography. As the commander of the 19th Special Operations Squadron, Byng had been charged with overseeing training for special operators serving on AC-130H, AC-130U and MC-130E special missions aircraft.
Byng is charged with choking his wife the evening of June 23 “until she could not draw breath” after accusing her of cheating and demanding she give him her phone, according to the arrest report.
His wife gave her phone to one of their two children in the house and told them to run away from Byng, according to the report. Police said Byng then took out a small pocketknife and demanded the phone, following the children with the knife as they attempted to escape.
Byng grabbed the neck of one of the children and picked up the child before halting as a friend pulled into the driveway in a vehicle, according to the arrest report.
Byng’s wife told police that she had her children hide inside the house and scaled a fence in the backyard to go to a neighbor’s home to call the police.
She said Byng was trying to take her phone to “prevent them from calling law enforcement or for help.”
It was not clear Friday whether Byng had hired an attorney. Jail records show he was released from custody on June 24.
