Man accused of injuring woman waives his hearing
A Butler man who police said tossed his former girlfriend out of a moving vehicle is out of jail on bond, awaiting trial for felony aggravated assault.
Appearing before District Judge Kevin O'Donnell on Thursday, Robert H. Vanscoy, 45, made no comment as his defense waived his charges to court.
Additionally, Vanscoy is charged with terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and simple assault, all misdemeanors, for the Sept. 1 incident.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Vanscoy early in September for charges related to the alleged attack, which left a woman in need of stitches and other hospital treatment for cuts, bruises and road rash.
Pittsburgh police arrested Vanscoy Sept. 27, and he was sent to Butler County Prison that day. On Oct. 4, he posted $10,000 bail and was released, according to court documents.
Patrolman Rachel Dovidio appeared in court Thursday for the case. She made no statement in court, but afterward noted that the victim was unable to make a written statement at the time due to her arm being injured. She also said that the woman was eventually transferred to a hospital in Allegheny County, but couldn't specify which one.
Originally, Butler Township police spoke to the 47-year-old woman at Butler Memorial Hospital.
The woman suffered a “significant laceration” about the left eye that required stitches and a “significant bruise” near her left elbow and forearm, according to police reports.
Additional injuries included a puncture wound on her left forearm that needed stitches, and road rash on the left side of her face and eye “up and down the left side of her body and scrapes on both of her knees,” according to court documents.
She complained of severe pain in her left shoulder, police said.
She told police that the trouble began while she was at a Butler gas station earlier that night.
Vanscoy drove up in a pickup truck, offering to take her to his house in the city's Island neighborhood, so that she could get her belongings, according to court records.
He made good on the offer, but at some point became angry and told her he would take her back to her Summit Township home.
But instead, according to police, Vanscoy told her, “I'm going to Pittsburgh, where no one can find you.” He also added, “If I can't have you, no one can.”
The woman asked several times to be released, and when he slowed down while turning just past a Sheetz station onto Vogel Road, police said, the victim took the opportunity to open the door. Vanscoy allegedly sped up and pushed her onto the road.
Since then, the woman has recovered enough to make a written statement, Dovidio said, but was unable to release an update on her health.
