Man arrested after woman stabbed late Tuesday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A man is in custody after reports said a woman was forced into a vehicle Tuesday evening, robbed and stabbed.

Officers were called about 11:50 p.m. to the 300 block of West Ravenwood Avenue, where reports said a woman had been stabbed. When officers arrived, they found the woman had a stab wound in the leg.

The woman told police she was walking on Lucius Avenue and Market Street when an SUV pulled up next to her and stopped. The woman told officers three men jumped out of the SUV, one armed with a knife and the other with a gun.

The men grabbed the woman’s purse, and as she tried to push them away, the man with the knife began stabbing her and then hit her in the face, reports said. The men then grabbed her and threw her in their vehicle and began driving toward Hillman Avenue, reports said.

The woman managed to jump out of the vehicle on West Ravenwood Avenue, where she called police. Reports said she told officers the vehicle she was in had a very loud exhaust.

Reports said officer Michael Sobinovsky told the other officers at the scene that just before he was called to West Ravenwood Avenue, he saw an SUV with a very loud exhaust system matching the description of the vehicle the woman said she was forced into, driving south on Firnley Avenue toward Parkcliffe Avenue. Officer Tim Edwards found the vehicle in a drive in the 400 block of West Ravenwood Avenue, reports said.

Reports said the driver, Christopher Garrett, 27, who lives at the home, was ordered out of the SUV. Reports said there was blood on the seats and the floor of the SUV and the victim’s boots and coat were found inside.

Garrett was taken to the Mahoning County jail on charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and felonious assault. He has yet to be arraigned in municipal court but he still was in the jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records.