I had something similar happen to me after I put a stone thru one of mine. It damaged the gears and would just stop it when I added certain coffees.
There is no reason I can think of for this to be anything even close to normal for a grinder.
If it is new, get another new one it is defective, otherwise it might have some internal damage you were not aware of, there is a gear in them that can get torque / stripped out on a lot of the grinders.
Other than that, the only other thing I can think of is, turn it on first, have it running then add coffee beans to it see if it can handle them that way or does it choke again.
Also, while I am sure you did this, just covering all bases, make sure you are not feeding it a stone.
Aaron