TEMPE, Ariz. — A man faces multiple felony charges after court documents say he was abusive and threatening his girlfriend with their child in a car while driving on State Route 87 earlier this week.
Thanks to a semi-truck driver pulled over on the side of State Route 87, the victim and her daughter were able to flee safely.
According to court docs, DPS troopers responded to an assault call on State Route 87 before midnight on Sept. 20. The victim told troopers she fled from her vehicle with her 3-year-old daughter. The victim said the suspect, later identified as Michael Brock, had pointed a gun at her head and hit her with it.
The woman and child were taken to Payson Hospital to be examined for possible head trauma after the suspect struck her in the head. They were later released.
The victim told detectives she got into an argument with Brock, her boyfriend and her child's father, in Tempe that evening at his apartment. After two days at his apartment the victim wanted to take the child and leave and go back to her father's house.
The victim said her boyfriend physically held her down on a bed, refusing to let her leave, court docs say. She eventually convinced him to let them drive back to her father's in McNary, Arizona.
As the three were in the suspect's vehicle driving, the victim told detectives that Brock started acting strange and hostile and began slapping her and cursing at her and on several occasions, pointed a gun at her head and tapped her head with the barrel, before he used the gun to push her head into the window.
The victim says she was starting to lose control of the vehicle and she told detectives she tried to stop the vehicle and flee with her daughter four different times. She said Brock had threatened to kill all three of them several times.
The victim in fear for her life was hoping to get other vehicles to help her. Court docs say the victim thought Brock was going to shoot her in front of his daughter.
Eventually she saw a semi-truck pulled over on the side of the road. The victim stopped in front of the semi-truck in the traffic lane and got out and grabbed her daughter and fled to the truck without any of her personal belongings.
She jumped into the semi-truck with her daughter and pleaded for the driver to help her.
The semi-truck driver told detectives he had never seen someone so scared in his life, according to court documents.
The victim suffered injuries to her face and arm at the hands of Brock, according to court docs.
On Wednesday, detectives interviewed Brock and took him into custody. According to court documents, Brock told detectives they were arguing for different reasons and that she was yelling at him while they were driving and he told her not to get out of the car because it was dangerous.
According to court documents, Brock stated to detectives he threatened to really hurt her if she got out of the vehicle. He also admitted to holding a gun in his right hand while they were driving. Brock also admitted he may have unintentionally told the victim he was going to kill her and he told detectives he was not really going to kill her, especially in front of their 3-year-old daughter.
Court docs say Brock was booked on four felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, misconduct involving weapons and child abuse as well as a misdemeanor for harassment.
