A Leavenworth man is facing several charges following a weekend incident during which he allegedly battered an ex-girlfriend and wouldn’t let her leave her apartment, a police spokesman said.
Maj. Robert Smith, deputy chief of the Leavenworth Police Department, said a 24-year-old man was implicated in an incident that began early Sunday morning.
Smith said police were called at 4:23 a.m. Sunday to Kansas Street and Lawrence Avenue.
When officers arrived, they found a tree that appeared to have been struck by something. Around a corner, there was a wrecked pickup truck.
A witness indicated the truck had struck the tree. The truck’s woman driver then got out of the vehicle.
“There was a dark-colored (sport utility vehicle) following her,” Smith said.
The man who was driving the SUV reportedly moved the wrecked truck and parked it. He then got into an argument with the woman, Smith said.
The man and woman reportedly got into the SUV and left the area before police arrived.
At 10:17 a.m. Sunday, police met with a 26-year-old woman who alleged the 24-year-old suspect had tried to run her off the road as she was traveling in a pickup with a passenger. She lost control of the truck and crashed.
The woman told police she eventually was forced into an SUV by the suspect and taken to her residence where she was kept against her will. She alleged the man occasionally hit her throughout the morning, and he threatened her with a knife.
“Her mother called and she grabbed the phone and answered, yelling for her mother to call the police,” Smith said.
The victim’s mother called the police. Officers went to the victim’s apartment on Stoneleigh Court.
“When officers arrived, the suspect had already left the scene,” Smith said.
At about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the suspect surrendered to police at the Justice Center.
Smith said the man denied the victim’s account of the events. He told police he’d followed the woman after he saw her nearly wreck her vehicle. After she did crash, he tried to help her by moving her truck. He also gave the woman a ride home.
The suspect told police the woman had been angry with him because he wouldn’t help her any further.
Smith said the suspect and victim previously had been involved in a domestic relationship.
The deputy chief said the suspect is now facing charges for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, criminal restraint, criminal damage to property and battery.
