Man beats woman at gas station, child thrown from car seat during attack
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Police say they arrested a man Friday, after he reportedly beat a woman at a gas station and drove off with her 10-month-old child.
The incident occurred at the BP gas station on Farwell and Maryland Avenue around 2:30 a.m., according to a criminal complaint.
The woman told police she had only known the suspect, 33-year-old Ronald Jr. Ziedman, for a couple days prior to the attack.
She said Ziedman had been driving her vehicle when he stopped at the gas station. Ziedman had been drinking and acting physically violent, according to the victim.
When Ziedman went inside, the woman tried to escape from the car with her child, but was caught by the suspect. She claimed that she needed to go inside to change her daughter's diaper.
The suspect reportedly followed her in, warning her that she only had 10 seconds to change the diaper. When they left the bathroom, the victim yelled at the clerk to call the police.
Ziedman then began punching the woman, according to court documents, which caused her to fall and drop the car seat.
The victim and suspect fought over the child, and as Ziedman ripped the car seat from the mother's hands, the child fell out of it onto the cement parking lot.
Ziedman then reportedly threw the child into the vehicle and went back inside to continue punching the mother, causing her to lose consciousness.
She eventually got away and hid in the gas station bathroom. The suspect drove off with the child in the car, and the mother waited at the gas station for police to arrive.
A witness told police they saw the suspect return to the gas station around 3:30 a.m. and hand the child to a customer, saying, "Me and his mama never really wanted the baby," before leaving in the vehicle.
As the witness called 911, the suspect returned, took the child back, and drove off with the child in the front seat of the car.
Around 4:30 a.m. the suspect was taken into custody at Potawatomi Casino, when a security officer smelled alcohol and saw Ziedler remove the child from his vehicle.
The mother and child were treated at a local hospital.
Ziedman faces charges of Abduction, Second Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety, False Imprisonment, Substantial Battery, Bail Jumping, Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated - 2nd Offense, With A Minor Child in the Vehicle, and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Revoked, according to the complaint.