Suspect arrested following police chase involving U-Haul in Butler County
A Pittsburgh man is in custody after police said he beat his ex-girlfriend, kidnapped her, and held a pair of scissors up to her, before her escape was caught on security camera.
The man, identified as Kenneth Clarke, 53, then led police on a brief chase in a U-Haul truck, the same one they say he had pulled his ex-girlfriend by her hair into before driving off.
The woman ran into Butler Tobacco and Grocery.
"This girl came in shaking, shoeless, bloody, and crying, she was being kidnapped, said Tori Adams, the clerk at the store at the time. "So, I told her to hide in the back room."
Security cameras captured Clarke parking next to the store and coming inside.
"He came in yelling that she had supposedly stolen things from him," Adams said, explaining she put herself between the man and the back of the store where the woman was.
"I told him he needed to go; I was already on the phone with the police," Adams said.
It got Clarke to head back inside the U-Haul and drive off.
Police said Butler City officers were originally dispatched around 2 p.m. on Saturday to the 100 block of Pillow Street for a report of a possible kidnapping and domestic assault. An officer met with the victim, who said she had been involved in a physical altercation with her ex-boyfriend that began on McGeary Street.
The victim told police Clarke struck her in the face multiple times, causing abrasions to her lips and mouth and tearing out her lip ring. She said Clarke then placed both hands around her neck and began to strangle her, causing her to begin losing consciousness.
According to the victim, Clarke grabbed her by the hair and shoved her into a wall, cutting her left ear. Her shirt was also torn during the assault, police said.
The victim said Clarke dragged her out of a residence by her hair, threw her across the driver's seat of the U-Haul van, and drove away while holding a pair of scissors to her.
At the intersection of West Cunningham and Pillow streets, the victim told police Clarke nearly ran a red light, then backed up the vehicle. While holding the scissors, she said, Clarke told her he was going to kill her.
The victim told police she attempted to escape by opening the passenger-side door. As she fled, she said Clarke tried to stab her with the scissors, striking her in the backside and cutting her pants. She then ran inside the tobacco shop.
"I was kind of like, 'What the hell is going on,'" said shop manager Lisa Albert, who was not there at the time, but watched the aftermath play out on her security cameras.
Police issued a be-on-the-lookout alert for Clarke and the vehicle, which was later spotted on Route 68. Officers from Evans City police and Jackson Township police stopped the vehicle after a brief chase, authorities said.
"Everyone's been concerned for her today," Albert said of the victim.
Adams described how she felt when the man came inside the store.
"Scared, scared for her, scared for myself. Scared for my son, my 13-year-old son was behind the counter, and I was like, 'Not today, my kid's here,' because I don't know what [Clarke] is capable of," Adams said.
Albert praised Adams for her actions.
"I'd like to think this is something anyone would do in a situation. I don't know if there is still enough good in the world to be the truth, but I hope that it is," Adams said.
Clarke was lodged in the Butler County Jail and faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, aggravated assault, strangulation, terroristic threats, and simple assault.
