Louisville man caught on video beating woman, dragging her into vehicle arrested after SWAT standoff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville man was arrested after a SWAT standoff on Tuesday after witnesses called 911 to report seeing him beat a woman, drag her into a pickup truck and drive off.

Louisville Metro Police sent a hostage negotiating team and SWAT to arrest Artis Chenault in connection to a domestic violence incident. Police said surveillance video confirmed what witnesses reported off Rockford Lane and Cane Run Road around 1:15 p.m.

Once on scene, witnesses told police they saw a woman dragged into an apartment.

According to an arrest report, witnesses said they watched Chenault try to hit the victim with his vehicle. When she attempted to walk away, he hit her with his vehicle and was "visibly unconscious" when Chenault drug her into the truck and fled the scene, which was all caught on surveillance video.

Police later found the pickup truck at an apartment on Shanks Lane about a mile away from the initial incident, where witnesses reported seeing the woman dragged into an apartment.

Neighbors at the scene told police they knew the victim and Chenault were inside his apartment because they heard them arguing as they entered the building, according to the arrest citation. They told police the victim was "topless, very unsteady, and had large knots on her head."

Police served a search warrant and called in SWAT to arrest Chenault and make contact with the woman, who told police that she and Chenault "had a miscommunication" and that "it all happened so fast" that she "did not know why he did it."

While searching Chenault's apartment, police said they found a loaded gun, a box of ammunition, loose ammunition, two sets of scales, a set of brass knuckles, a large baggie of suspected marijuana, a large quantity of suspected crack cocaine, a small baggie of suspected crack cocaine, a small baggie of multi-colored pills believed to be fentanyl, and a marijuana grinder.

Chenault faces kidnapping, assault, wanton endangerment and drug charges, including trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia. He's being held at Metro Corrections in downtown Louisville awaiting his first court appearance. Chenault will be arraigned on the charges against him Wednesday morning.

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