Cops: Woman Hit Boyfriend With Car

A 44-year-old St. Petersburg man is in critical condition after police say his 26-year-old girlfriend struck him with a vehicle, drove for about 150 feet and then slammed on the brakes.

The incident unfolded just after 5 p.m. Wednesday when police say a verbal dispute broke out between Kenneth Coffey Jr. and Rowena Clifford at the home they share together at 170 98th Ave. Clifford got into her vehicle “in an apparent attempt to leave the scene,” police wrote in an email to media.

Coffey, however, was standing in front of the vehicle and Clifford “accelerated at him at a high rate of speed,” the email said. Coffey was struck and ended up on the hood, police said. Clifford then drove westbound on 98th Avenue North for about 150 feet before slamming on the brakes “in a deliberate attempt to throw Coffey off the hood,” the email said.

That attempted worked.

Coffey was thrown from the hood to the pavement, striking his head in the process. He was transported to Bayfront Medical Center in critical condition. Police say he suffered a brain injury and underwent surgery.

Clifford was being held in the Pinellas County Jail Thursday without bond on a single charge of aggravated battery.

Photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Jail