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VANCOUVER, Wash. (KPTV) — A Vancouver man is behind bars after police say he brutally beat his girlfriend.
According to court documents, that woman escaped and found help from a good Samaritan nearby.
Kim Raygoza was working at Chevron on Northeast Andresen Road in Vancouver Tuesday night, when she says a woman walked up to the store, begging for help.
“Oh my God, this side of her face was really big. Her mouth was really busted and bleeding,” said Raygoza, who helped the victim. “Her mouth was just full of blood. It was awful.”
Police say the victim told them she was punched in the face several times by her boyfriend earlier that day and hit with a wooden board after an argument at his house about a mile and a half away.
“I go, ‘Who did this to you?’ And she was hesitant, but then… at that point she said somebody like smashed, but she retracted,” said Raygoza.
People who live near the suspect told FOX 12 off camera they heard what sounded like a big fight that night that may have gotten out of hand.
However, neighbors say that behavior is typical for that home.
The victim, officers say, did escape the suspect’s home and made it to a nearby gas station where she found Raygoza.
“I go out and I see this lady. She’s bleeding, no shoes on,” said Raygoza. “She walked outside and I followed her with some paper towels because she’s bleeding.”
Raygoza told her coworker to call 911, while she helped the distraught and severely injured woman.
“I was really concerned for her because she was just a mess. I don’t know if she wasn’t thinking or what,” Raygoza told FOX 12.
She says police rushed to the gas station and got that woman the help she needed.
Investigators later learned from the hospital she has a potentially life-threatening brain injury.
According to court papers, officers arrested 59-year-old Kevin Bentley a day later and charged him with first degree assault.
A judge set Bentley’s bail at $150,000. He’s set to be arraigned next week.
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