Woman thrown off bridge by ex
Published 12:29 am Tuesday, April 3, 2012
A woman allegedly tossed off a bridge by her ex-boyfriend Saturday has led Andalusia Police officers to the third suspect wanted for a March 9 burglary and robbery on Riley Street.
“It’s a strange set of circumstances,” said Lt. Paul Dean.
Dean said a Covington County Sheriff’s Deputy, traveling west on U.S. Hwy. 84, found the female victim walking along the side of the road.
“She said she’d been assaulted, and her car taken,” he said. “She said she and her ex-boyfriend had gotten into an argument, and he forced her out of the car and then threw her off of the bridge right below Jones Veterinary.”
Dean said she identified the suspect as Donterius Johnson.
“She was very lucky and suffered a few non-life threatening injures,” Dean said. “Her fall was between four to six feet. She got lucky he didn’t pitch her off from the middle of the bridge where the fall was 30-feet.”
Dean said as he completed interviewing the victim, word came that deputies were en route down Alabama Hwy. 55 South to a call of a man who’d knocked on a nearby resident’s door and stated he’d been “beaten and thrown into the river” near the Portemont Estate.
“And, he identified himself as Donterius Johnson,” he said.
Once law enforcement arrived on scene, the victim’s 2005 Nissan Altima was found wrecked at the bottom of the bridge’s embankment, Dean said.
Because of the extent of his injuries, Johnson was transported to Florala Memorial Hospital, and later Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla.
“At the time of this whole incident, (Johnson) was being sought by the APD in connection with a burglary and robbery that happened here on March 9,” Dean said.
Two were arrested last month after the trio allegedly forced their way into a Riley Street home and robbed the man at gunpoint.
Johnson, once released from the hospital, will be transported to the Covington County Jail, where he will be charged with domestic violence II and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, as well as theft of property I, robbery I and burglary I. At present, it is unknown what Johnson’s total bond will be, Dean said.