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Home > Blogs > Dayton area crime > Archives > 2009 > November > 23 > Entry
Police officer arrested for attempted murder of ex-girlfriend
WASHINGTON TWP., Montgomery County - A Columbus-area police officer is in Montgomery County Jail on an attempted murder charge after he allegedly abducted his ex-girlfriend and tried to drown her in a ditch.
Joshua Gearhart, 27, an auxiliary police officer with the Whitehall Police Department, was spotted near Leona Lane and Ohio 725 about 6 a.m. Sunday by sheriff’s deputies after witnesses reported a woman in the road, Maj. Scott Landis said.
Deputies found the woman covered in mud and grass clippings and soaking wet at a Shell Gas Station at Ohio 741 and Ohio 725, Landis said.
The woman said Gearhart, a former Columbus police officer, drove from there and the two went out Saturday night, Landis said. At some point, Gearhart requested she “do something for him,” and made threats that he would harm her if she didn’t, Landis said.
An argument ensued and the woman grabbed the keys from Gearhart’s truck and fled on foot, Landis said. Gearhart caught up with her, tried to drag her back to his truck and the two wrestled in a ditch full of water, Landis said.
Gearhart allegedly tried to drown the woman in the ditch, but failed, Sheriff Phil Plummer said. The woman is physically OK, Plummer said.
County prosecutors today approved a felony abduction charge against Gearhart, which allowed deputies to get a warrant that will keep him in jail, Landis said.
Gearhart was fired from the Columbus Police Department last fall after an internal investigation, the Columbus Dispatch reported at the time.
As a Columbus officer Gearhart was involved in the fatal shooting of a man who pointed a gun at officers, the newspaper reported.
He now serves as a part-time officer with the Whitehall Police Department, investigators said.
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