Josh Newton
Tahlequah Daily Press
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — A Tahlequah paramedic is being credited for helping to stop a man who allegedly attacked a woman and tried to rape her Monday night at a home on West Allen Road.
According to Tahlequah Officer Brian Jordan, police were sent to the intersection of Allen and Vinita at about 10:20 p.m. to check on an assault. Jordan arrived and found Northeastern Health System paramedic Matt Young holding Joey Donavan Case, 25, on the floor of the house.
Young told Jordan that he and a fellow medic responded to a call at the nearby intersection to check on a man’s twisted knee. That man asked the medics to help him get to his house on West Allen. He had reportedly injured his knee while trying to get to the home to help his friend, who was apparently screaming for help.
As medics were assisting the man to the home, they heard screaming inside the residence.
Young said another witness ran to the house, opened the door, and yelled out that someone inside was beating a woman. Young, who is also a reserve officer for the Tahlequah Police Department, went to the door and saw a man, later identified as Case, on top of a woman on the floor. Case allegedly had his left arm around the woman’s neck and was pummeling her in the head and face with his right arm.
Young said Case then grabbed the woman by the throat “as if to rip it out,” Jordan reported.
“Young said that he then knew that he had to intervene, so he grabbed the male’s hand to pull it away from [the woman’s] throat,” Jordan said in his arrest affidavit.
But Case was able to again grab the woman by the throat. Young eventually struck Case in the face and was able to pull Case’s hand away from the woman’s throat. Young then rolled Case onto his stomach and restrained him until police arrived at the scene.
Witnesses said the alleged victim and Case had been at a nearby party prior to the alleged assault. The victim told officers she noticed Case was at the party, but she did not know him. She eventually walked home to go to sleep.
The woman said she was awakened by Case, who was touching her inappropriately. She told him to stop several times and tried to push him away, but Case allegedly held her down and placed both of his hands around her throat to choke her.
The alleged victim told officers she remembered Case being behind her with his arm around her neck, but she did not remember being hit. She did notice, while speaking with officers, that her face and side were sore.
Case did not have permission to be in the woman’s home, officers were told.
Police booked Case into the Cherokee County Detention Center for attempted first-degree rape, sexual assault, first-degree burglary, aggravated assault and battery and public intoxication. He had not been given a bond as of Tuesday afternoon, booking records show.
©2015 the Tahlequah Daily Press