LAFAYETTE, IN — An 18-year-old woman tried to get away from her attacker by jumping from a pickup truck Thursday evening, but the man caught her and dragged her back to the truck, witnesses told Tippecanoe County sheriff’s deputies.
A motorist noticed the man assaulting the woman inside a tan pickup truck with a red tailgate in the 500 block of North Fourth Street and called 911 about 6 p.m. Thursday, according to the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department.
The motorist followed the pickup truck and witnessed the woman trying to run away at Ninth and Greenbush streets before being caught by the driver, according to police. The driver picked up the woman and forced her back into the truck, police said.
Deputies ran a check of previous calls based on the suspect and woman’s name, which provided deputies with a possible address in West Lafayette, police said. Deputies found the woman there, and she had several injuries believed to be from the assault, police said.
Deputies found the man and his distinctively painted pickup truck Thursday night at a truck meet-up event in a parking lot south of Veterans Memorial Park and west of Promenade Parkway, according to police reports.
Deputies jailed the driver on suspicion of strangulation, kidnapping, criminal confinement, intimidation and domestic battery, according to Tippecanoe County Jail records. He also is suspected of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
He remained jailed early Friday afternoon without bond pending a hearing before the Tippecanoe County magistrate’s court.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Motorist calls 911 after seeing man drag woman into his pickup truck
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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By Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
