Police | Man arrested; girlfriend taken to hospital covered in bruises, eyes swollen shut

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A call for help from miles away ended with an arrest on Monday in Kanawha County, according to court documents.

On Jan. 16 around 5 p.m., officers responded to 9th Avenue in South Charleston after receiving a call from a woman in Georgia claiming her sister was in danger.

The caller told officers her sister’s boyfriend was being abusive and that her sister managed to sneak away to call her for help while the man was downstairs.

When officers arrived at the home, they reported no one answered the front door, but officers could hear a faint female voice, a male voice and loud thudding sounds coming from the back of the home.

According to the criminal complaint, when officers got inside the home and announced themselves, the victim came out of a room, nude and covered in multiple bruises from head to toe. Officers also say she had open wounds on both arms and both eyes were nearly swollen shut.

The victim was taken from the home and transported to the hospital.

Court documents state responding units backed away from the home after the victim told them her boyfriend was armed.

Hospital officials told police the victim appeared to have multiple skull fractures and fractures to her ribs.

At the hospital, the victim told officers Alex Vagott, 49, of South Charleston threw her against multiple pieces of furniture, ripped her hair out, and punched her in the face, arms, and torso multiple times that day and throughout the week.

Vagott was later arrested on charges of malicious or unlawful assault and battery.

Vagott is currently in the South-Central Regional Jail.

Further information has not been released.

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