Man arraigned on multiple felony charges after Denny’s fight

LIBERTY

A man was arraigned today in Girard Municipal Court following a fight Tuesday at a Denny’s Restaurant parking lot.

Josue Rodriguez, 39, of Struthers faces three counts of felonious assault and one felony count of domestic violence. He is being held in the Trumbull County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Police responded about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to Belmont Avenue. Rodriguez told officers he was driving along Belmont Avenue and became enraged when he saw his wife and another man in the restaurant parking lot. During the ensuing altercation, he accelerated toward them and crashed his car into his wife’s vehicle, causing extensive damage, a police report states.

Rodriguez then backed up and struck a pickup truck, forcing it into a block wall, according to police.

An employee of nearby Sam’s Pizza Shop reported seeing Rodriguez’s wife crawling out of one of the vehicles, at which time Rodriguez again slammed into her car with his car, “nearly crushing her,” the employee told police.

Rodriguez chased his wife and the employee through the pizza store and, after catching up to his wife in front of the pizzeria, hit her repeatedly in the head with the brick before the worker and several others came to her aid, the employee told authorities.

The woman was treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for possible fractures.

While investigating the multiple crashes, police recovered a broken concrete block with what appeared to be blood on it. The Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Girard Police Department also responded to the scene.

Rodriguez will appear next Wednesday in Girard Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing.