Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies who stopped a car in connection to a stabbing in Harrison ended up arresting a 34-year-old Chattanooga man on unrelated kidnapping and assault charges on Friday.
Deputies initially stopped the maroon Ford Focus because it was driving away from the scene of a stabbing at 9823 Birchwood Pike around 9 p.m. Friday. Deputies handcuffed the man and woman inside the vehicle and interviewed them.
During interviews, the woman, who will not be identified by the Times Free Press, told investigators that the man - Eric Jones - choked her, punched her, threatened to kill her and wouldn't let her out of the car for several hours that night. She said Jones was her boyfriend.
Jones began to choke her while they were inside the car parked near a relative's home on Birchwood Pike, she said. She hit the car horn with her feet to try to get help, prompting a large number of people to come outside of several homes on the property.
She said the group began to fight Jones, and that they fled after he was hit by a baseball bat. She said the stabbing was part of that fight.
Investigators determined that she and Jones were not suspects in the stabbing and arrested Tyler Jernigan, 24, for the stabbing.
The stabbing victim was rushed into emergency surgery. The victim's condition was unavailable Monday.
The woman told police she'd picked Jones up earlier that night and that they had been fighting throughout the night. She said kept her inside the vehicle for several hours and struck her several times. She gave investigators an audio recording in which Jones threatened to kill her.
Officers noted that the woman suffered significant bruising around her face. Witnesses also told officers they saw a man slam a woman into the steering wheel of a maroon Ford Focus that was parked on Birchwood Pike.
Jones is charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
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