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A Florida man who swam to an island after assaulting his girlfriend has been caught, police say.
Jeriel Joiner, 42, was captured on June 23 and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery by strangulation and felony battery, the Port Orange Police Department said in a post on Facebook.
Joiner allegedly struck his girlfriend, who was not been named, on the head with a handle of vodka, then choked her by wrapping his hands around her throat and then using a rope, police said.
“He hit me in the eye with the bottle of vodka,” Joiner’s girlfriend was heard telling police on body cam footage. “He said he poured it out but he drank the vodka.” Police said it’s believed her arm was broken during the struggle.
The woman managed to break free from Joiner, and bystanders who had seen him chasing her stepped in “to prevent Joiner from causing more harm,” and temporarily pinned him down, police said.
Joiner was able to escape and swam to an island along the Intracoastal Waterway. Police officers traveled to the island in a Florida Fish and Wildlife boat.
After an extensive search, Joiner was found later that night inside a tent and taken into custody. Police body-cam footage shows police surrounding the tent with their guns drawn as they order Joiner to step out with his hands up.
Joiner, who had been laying down on an air mattress inside the tent, complied with police and climbed out of the tent with his hands up. He was handcuffed and taken into custody without incident.
Joiner is in the Volusia County Jail under a $17,500 bond, according to jail records. It is not clear when he’s expected in court.
