Police use helicopter to find suspect in Stone Creek
STONE CREEK (WJER) (April 27, 2022) – Authorities say a law enforcement helicopter helped locate a domestic violence suspect in Stone Creek Saturday night after what was initially reported as a stabbing.
Tuscarawas Sheriff Sgt. Bruce Lowery says the caller around 11:30 p.m. reported a 40-year-old relative choked him, threatened to stab him, and fled on foot.
“The victim indicated that he had held a sharp object to his throat and attempted to strangle him with his life alert [necklace] that the victim wore,” Lowery said.
Lowery says the victim wasn’t stabbed, though.
“The victim sustained a small cut along his shoulder, back, and neck area, which was treated at the scene by paramedics,” Lowery said.
Lowery says the suspect was known to carry a knife, so first responders requested help from the state highway patrol’s aviation unit.
“They began searching from the air and we were notified of an individual that they had spotted laying on the ground by the … Stone Creek Marathon gas station,” Lowery said. “At that point, units converged on that area and the suspect was located in there laying on the ground by a tree.”
Lowery says the 40-year-old man, Shawn Lee Miller, was taken into custody without incident.
“We searched the area and did locate a large pair of scissors that was suspected to be the weapon used in the incident,” Lowery said.
Miller, whose last known address is in New Philadelphia, is in the Tuscarawas County Jail facing fourth-degree felony and first-degree misdemeanor domestic violence charges.