A Georgia man faces several felony charges after prosecutors allege he stole his wife’s SUV and repeatedly hit her with it.
Twan Maurice Byrd, whose age was not disclosed, was indicted on Wednesday after being arrested in February for an incident involving his wife. According to a bill of indictment reviewed by Law&Crime, Byrd stole his wife’s Chevrolet Equinox on February 3. An arrest report obtained by The Georgia Gazette, a local news outlet, stated that witnesses saw Byrd hit his wife with the SUV “multiple times” and “attempted to run her over on the curb.”
According to the arrest report, other witnesses saw Byrd go back over her before she ran into a nearby car wash. He allegedly hit her again before fleeing on foot, leaving the car and his seriously injured wife in the car wash.
According to the indictment, Byrd not only hit his wife with her SUV, but also strangled her and struck her in the face. According to the arrest report, Byrd’s wife was “bleeding heavily from her nose and mouth” and had a broken leg. Before being taken to the hospital, she identified her attacker as her husband.
Prosecutors described the woman’s right leg injuries as “seriously disfiguring.”
In the bill of indictment, prosecutors accused Byrd of attempting to prevent his wife from testifying against him in their divorce proceedings in Chatham County Superior Court. They claimed that he illegally offered to give her anything she wanted in exchange for her refusal to testify. Prosecutors also accused Byrd of stalking his wife, claiming he made “harassing and intimidating” phone calls to her.
Byrd was charged with hijacking a vehicle, attempting to commit a felony (murder), kidnapping, influencing a witness, stalking, obstructing an officer, and three counts of aggravated battery. He remains in Chatham County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in court on October 1.
