A South Carolina man has been charged with kidnapping as a result of an alleged March 2024 incident in which a woman used soap to write “call 911” on a hotel room window, authorities said.
Keith Jerome Galloway, 41, was also charged with first-degree assault and battery, according to a North Charleston Police Department (NCPD) press release. Officers responded to a hotel on Northside Drive around 10:30 p.m. on March 13, 2024, and found the female victim, unidentified, inside a hotel room with visible injuries. The room seemed to be in “disarray,” police said. (RELATED: Investigators Allegedly Find Human Remains Stuffed In Suitcases — Suspect Was Reportedly Hunting Sex-Offenders)
The woman told an officer that she had met the suspect the week earlier and considered him a friend. She alleged that an argument about a lost room deposit and the possibility of having to leave the hotel escalated into physical violence. The suspect allegedly destroyed the woman’s phone, prevented her from leaving, and repeatedly assaulted her, resulting in visible injuries, she said in a statement to police. The female victim screamed so loudly that other guests staying at the hotel were able to hear her, according to the release.
The male suspect allegedly fled the scene on foot. The female victim then used soap to write “call 911” and her room number on a window, prompting other guests to check on her and alert authorities. Police identified Galloway as the suspect allegedly involved in the incident during an investigation.
Authorities served Galloway with arrest warrants April 1 at the Berkeley County Jail. He was later transferred to the Al Cannon Detention Center.
The incident is not Galloway’s first arrest.
Galloway was arrested along with Tabitha Lynn Scott in March 2024 after shots were allegedly fired at an officer who was trying to conduct a traffic stop, according to ABC News 4. Galloway faced several charges, including “two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, criminal conspiracy, pointing and presenting a firearm at a person, failure to stop for blue lights, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime,” the outlet reported, citing jail records.
In addition, Galloway was charged with third-degree assault and battery and trafficking in meth or cocaine base in 2019, WBTW reported.