A Portage Co. woman survived a 30-foot fall from a second-floor window after being pushed by the man she thought she loved.
Rodney Curlee, 35, is wanted on a felony warrant in Portage County Municipal Court following the June 14 incident.
According to court records, Curlee came to the home of his ex-girlfriend Treena Payne and began assaulting her.
She was choked repeatedly and threatened with a knife before retreating upstairs. She backed up against the wall and Curlee pushed her out the window.
“I was in so much pain that I was numb over my whole body,” Payne said, remembering the terrifying night.
Payne shattered her pelvis and her left leg, dragging her body towards a neighbor's home where she received help.
Payne's loved ones have started raising funds to pay for her extensive medical costs.
“He deserves to be in jail that’s for sure,” neighbor Nellie Howard told News 5.
One month later and Payne is still in the hospital recovering from her injuries. Curlee is still on the run.
“I trusted this man everything with my life — and he tried to take it,” Payne said. “I’m terrified.”
It wasn’t the first time that Curlee beat Payne. He was convicted of assaulting her in 2012. It was his fourth assault conviction in less than 10 years. But instead of jail time, Curlee was given community control sanctions.
According to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Records, a judge found that “community control sanctions will adequately protect the public and will not demean the seriousness of the offense.”
But Payne said her injuries show that she was not safe.
“It’s a miracle that I even survived,” she said.
Now Payne is pleading for anyone with information on the whereabouts of Rodney Curlee to turn him in.
“This man needs to be locked up,” she said. “This needs to be taken seriously.”
According to Portage Co. court records, a warrant for Curlee’s arrest was issued on June 15.
