Woman recovering after attack

A Latah County woman is recovering after a night of being beaten, kidnapped, hit by a pickup truck and possibly shot at.

The Latah County Sheriff’s Department arrested the woman’s boyfriend, 39-year-old Tracey L. Ferguson, of Juliaetta, Idaho, Saturday night on charges of felony domestic battery, aggravated battery and driving under the influence.

The problems began outside Bailey’s Bar in Bovill, where Ferguson allegedly beat his 40-year-old girlfriend, forced her into his pickup, then drove her and another man toward Elk River, said public information officer Jennifer McFarland.

Officers are not naming the victim or the witness, said McFarland.

Ferguson drove the pickup into a ditch, and when the woman got out and tried to walk back to Bovill, he allegedly hit her with the pickup from behind, according to the male passenger, said McFarland.

Ferguson then dragged her back into the pickup and drove toward Deary after dropping off the male passenger in Bovill. At 11:08 p.m., someone notified the Sheriff’s Department.

The woman said Ferguson then hit her in the face repeatedly, knocking out one of her front teeth. After she asked him to stop so she could look for the tooth, she escaped, running down First Avenue in Deary.

About a half block away, the woman heard a gunshot; fearing Ferguson had shot himself, she walked back to the truck but didn’t find him, McFarland said. A nearby resident called deputies, reporting the shot and a woman screaming.

The woman hid behind a tree when she heard footsteps.

It was Ferguson. He sat down nearby and called the woman’s name, McFarland said. He then lay on the ground, and the woman fled to a friend’s home, where she was treated by paramedics. She did not require hospitalization.

Deputies arrested Ferguson at a nearby gas station on drunken-driving charges after confirming he had driven between Bovill and Deary. They later added the battery charges.