Man Charged With Stabbing, Strangling Woodstock Woman

WOODSTOCK, GA — An Atlanta man has been charged with strangling and stabbing a Woodstock woman while she drove along Highway 92 earlier this month. Officers were dispatched to the scene of the incident just before 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 14 on the westbound side of the highway near Neese Road.

They arrived to find the victim bleeding from a stab wound to her hip. According to an incident report released by the Woodstock Police Department, a woman inside a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee said she was sitting in the passenger seat while the victim was driving and another passenger, identified as Arnold Frederick Brown, was positioned directly behind the driver.

The witness said Brown allegedly began physically strangling the victim and stabbed her multiple times with a knife, the report states. She tried to stop Brown from stabbing the woman, who "unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her driver's door to escape out of the car," the report adds.

The woman was able to escape by falling out of the Jeep onto the pavement of the highway. Another vehicle, which was traveling eastbound on Highway 92, made a U-turn at the Neese Road intersection and stopped to assist the victim. While providing aid, the woman told police she saw Brown reach into the back of the Jeep, grab something and flee on foot westbound along the highway towards Justin Drive, the report adds.

Moments before the incident, the driver of a 2013 Hyundai Elantra told police he was traveling westbound in the right travel lane on the highway when the Jeep merged into the right lane without slowing down or using a signal. The driver of the Hyundai swerved to the right to avoid striking the Jeep and crashed into the curb.

He continued to drive along the highway towards Justin Drive when he saw Brown, who was wearing brown boots, blue jeans and a desert camouflage backpack. Police arrived on the scene ordered Brown to get down on the ground. According to the driver of the Hyundai, he allegedly heard Brown tell officers that he "was a government agent and that the police needed to call the governor and the president."

Woodstock police spokesperson Brittany Page said all three people inside the Jeep were acquaintances and it's believed the incident stemmed from a disagreement among the parties.

Brown, a 44-year-old Atlanta resident, was taken into custody and charged with three counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated battery, felony obstruction of an officer, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and felony criminal attempts. He was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center on Jan. 14 where he remains held without bond, said Cherokee Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Marianne Kelley.

Photo: Arnold Brown. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office