A McConnelsville man who police say broke into a Beverly home Friday morning and was beaten by an occupant with a bat was arrested more than 80 miles away later in the day.
According to a release from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Johnathan E. Porter, 29, was arrested Friday afternoon at Twin City Hospital in New Philadelphia, 82 miles from Beverly.
"He checked himself into the hospital and told them he was hit by a car," Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said. "They found that he had been hit by a baseball bat."
Hospital authorities contacted the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office, whose deputies came to the hospital and arrested Porter.
According to the Washington County sheriff's release, at 6:57 am. Friday, Jason Whitacre of Beverly, reported that Porter forcibly entered his residence on Ohio 60 and the two had an altercation. Mincks said the two men knew each other prior to the incident.
Whitacre told deputies he struck Porter several times with a baseball bat and Porter then fled the scene. After the confrontation, both of Porter's wrists were broken and he had several contusions on his head, the sheriff's office said.
Law enforcement officials conducted a search of Washington and Morgan counties with a helicopter and police cruisers, looking for Porter's red pickup, until he turned up at at Twin City Hospital.
Porter is currently being held at the Tuscarawas County jail. The sheriff's department said charges related to the burglary are forthcoming.
