A man arrested in a kidnapping captured on home surveillance video in Las Vegas was in a relationship with the victim, and their one-month old was in the car at the time of the attack, police said.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police on Thursday identified the suspect as Darnell Rodgers, 23. He faces a series of charges including kidnapping and domestic battery following the incident on New Year’s Day.
His first court appearance is Friday. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney.
Rodgers was allegedly captured on surveillance video hitting and kicking a woman then dragging her back to a car.
The video shows a woman running up to a house and banging on the door as a man jumped out of a white sedan and raced toward her. He threw her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach as she tumbled down the home’s front steps.
“Why would you do that?” the man yelled.
“Stop, Darnell,” the woman sobbed before he dragged her by the hair to the car.
The attack happened at 12:48 a.m. on January 1, according to the Las Vegas police. And it was the first of other incidents involving the couple that morning, police said. They described it as a domestic violence turned into a kidnapping.
The homeowner who saw the video called the police immediately. By the time officers arrived at the scene, the couple was long gone, authorities said.
“That video footage was sent to our agency, detective received that information, they had very little to go off of,” said Capt. Dennis O’Brien of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
“But they were able to piece together all the calls for service that transpired in the Las Vegas Valley during the course of New Year’s Day. They went through every case, every call for service to see if there was anybody that was similar in nature, similar in name and stature that would match the suspect and the victim.”
About 3:45 that same morning, another call came in that matched the name the woman called out during the attack and a similar description to the previous incident, he said.
That call gave officers an address to go off of, and the man was arrested Thursday morning.
The video was crucial in the arrest because the victim called out the suspect’s name, which matched the domestic violence call officers had gone out to, police said.
The unidentified woman is fine, police said. They said the couple is dating and has a child together.
“There was a one-month-old child in that car at the time of this. Their common child so this is one of those crimes that affects all families,” O’Brien said. “It affects everyone in the valley and the child is safe, the mother is safe and that’s being handled by child protective services.”
The alleged kidnapping happened as the couple returned from a New Year’s party. They had an argument inside the vehicle and the woman got out, police said.
Rodgers was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, according to jail records.
