Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993                   TAG: 9308180145
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

CITIZENS GET CREDIT IN STABBING SUSPECT'S ARREST

Sgt. Ed Hogston said Tuesday that citizens flagged down police and followed a car in efforts to help police investigate a complaint of a woman screaming for help Sunday evening.

Police were called at about 7:45 p.m. with reports that a woman - who was the victim either of an assault or an abduction - screaming for help, Hogston said.

Citizens near an East Main Street grocery store flagged down officers and gave information about what they had seen.

Hogston said the people reported seeing a woman being dragged into a vehicle by a man. The woman broke free and ran, but she was dragged back into the car, witnesses said.

Another witness followed the car until police caught up with it, Hogston said.

Police followed the car onto Memorial Drive where it eventually was stopped.

Penny Rinard, the woman in the car, had a stab wound to her left front thigh, Hogston said. She was treated and released at Pulaski Community Hospital.

Her husband, Robert Joseph Rinard, 27, of Winston-Salem has been charged with malicious wounding, reckless driving, eluding police and carrying a concealed weapon - a pair of nunchakus or nunchucks - a martial-arts weapon.

Hogston commended the citizens who helped police investigate the complaint.

"It's a prime example where good public notice or involvement came in exceptionally perfect," Hogston said. "One guy even cared enough to even follow the vehicle."