Horror moment fleeing man who ‘beat girlfriend with bottle of vodka before strangling her’ caught hiding in tent – ​​The US Sun

A Florida man swam to an island off the state’s coast in an attempt to flee from police.

Jeriel Joiner was arrested after cops tracked him down to an island on the Intracoastal Waterway, where they say he swam while trying to escape from police.

During a public altercation with his girlfriend, Joiner allegedly hit her with a bottle of alcohol he had been drinking on Sunday, June 23, according to a Facebook post by Port Orange police.

“He hit me in the eye with a bottle of vodka,” Joiner’s unidentified girlfriend can be heard telling police in body camera footage.

“He said he poured it out, but I know he drank it,” she told police.

She also told police that Joiner told her that “the devil wanted him to kill me.”

After striking her, Joiner then reportedly started to choke his girlfriend with both hands around her throat before she was able to free herself and run away.

But Joiner chased her, eventually catching her and this time wrapping a rope around her neck and choking her more.

The unidentified girlfriend is also believed to have broken her arm during the incident, according to police.

Bystanders who saw the situation unfold jumped into action and eventually pinned Joiner to the ground before he was able to get up and run away.

Shortly after fleeing on foot, Joiner jumped into the water and began swimming along the Intracoastal Waterway and made his way to a small island on the state’s Atlantic coast.

Body camera footage from police shows them arriving to the island alongside Florida Fish and Wildlife by boat.

After an extensive search that lasted hours, body-cam footage then fast-forwards to hours later, after night fell on the island.

Eventually, police found a tent in the wilderness and decided to check if Joiner was inside.

In their body-cam footage, police can be seen approaching the tent with guns drawn and flashlights out.

After identifying themselves as police, cops then opened the tent and ordered Joiner out before arresting him as he slept inside.

Before the video cuts out, police are seen putting Joiner in a life jacket to be transported from the small island back to mainland Florida.

Joiner was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery by strangulation and felony battery.

Although police say witnesses had to intervene in order to stop Joiner from further harming his girlfriend, some people who claimed to know Joiner say they believe his girlfriend is lying about the incident.

“I know JJ and I know that girl she did this many times,” said one person under the police department’s Facebook post.

“That girl lies, she gets drunk and gets combative and calls the police to say somebody hits but her she’s the one that should be in jail,” the comment continued.

The US Sun has attempted to get in contact with Joiner’s attorney.