ELYRIA — An Elyria man was arrested after his wife said he tried to run her over overnight, according to a police report.

Peterson

Phillip Peterson Sr., 53, was arrested and charged with domestic violence.

Police were called to Case Avenue about 10 p.m. last night and spoke with the wife, a 39-year-old Elyria woman, who told them she and her husband are divorcing but are trying to reconcile. She said she and her husband had a “date night” but that her husband was getting upset because “guys were hitting on me when we were out,” according to a police report.

She told them her husband stopped in the road in front of her apartment and accused her of “sleeping with everyone.”

She said she got mad and demanded her apartment key back, but, when he wouldn’t give it to her, she got out of the vehicle and tried to cross in front of it.

She said her husband then began “power braking” and hit her at least three times before she got away.

“Each time I would move away from the car, he would do it again,” she told police.

She said she was able to get away and bang on her door for her children to let her into the home.

She told police, “I just got out of the hospital and I was scared if he hit me I would die. All I could think about was my children who were in the house. I thought he was going to kill me.”

Another officer made contact with Peterson at his home, and he was transported to the police station. According to the report, he has a pending domestic violence case through the Sheffield Police Department.

Gwen Wright

The car belonging to Gwen Wright, the Wellington woman who’s been missing nearly a week, has been found in Peebles, Ohio, in Adams County, according to Wellington police.

According to Rich Jaffe, a reporter for WKRC Cincinnati, the car was found yesterday, and all Wright’s person items were in it.

He said a helicopter was searching the area for Wright this morning but didn’t find anything and two detectives were headed down from Wellington to assist in the investigation.

Check back with Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.

ELYRIA — A Lorain man had to be rescued from a cliff over the Black River yesterday by firefighters, and then he was arrested for setting a fire in the mall parking lot.

Rosemark

Daniel Rosemark, 22, of Lorain, was charged with two counts of arson and was taken to the Lorain County Jail, where he is being held on $5,000 bond.

Police were called about 1:30 p.m. and met up with mall security officers at the intersection of Ford and West River roads, according to a police report. The officers told police a man carrying a red gas can ran into the woods behind Golden Corral and that they could see smoke coming from the direction he ran.

Officers smelled burning brush but didn’t observe any active fire. They eventually located Rosemark sitting about 40 feet down the cliff with his feet dangling over another cliff about 20 feet above the Black River.

Officers attempted to climb down to Rosemark, who wouldn’t initially respond to them, but couldn’t get to him due to the steep terrain.

He told officers he didn’t want to kill himself, but that he wanted to jump from the cliff to get his bag. He told officers that he had been having a hard time finding a job and that everyone hated him because he was different. Officers determined he was suffering from schizophrenia and wasn’t taking his medication.

The Elyria Fire Department arrived and set up a rappel line. An officer was able to rappel down to Rosemark and pat him down for weapons, and firefighters then rappelled him down to the river, where he was taken into custody.

Once officers were able to ask Rosemark about the incident in the mall parking lot, he told them that he had heard people in Elyria were “talking (expletive),” so he decided to come to Elyria “and show them he doesn’t take that (expletive).”

In the mall parking lot, officers found burn mark south of the food court entrance.

Rosemark was taken to the county jail, and a two-gallon red gas can and lighter were entered into evidence.

The report noted Rosemark asked if he was allowed to return to the cliff once he is released from jail.

A Lorain man and the kitten he rescued last week will be VIP guests at this weekend’s Woolly Bear Festival in Vermilion.

Tim Pitroski said he saw a woman throw the small, female tiger-striped kitten down and embankment and into Lake Erie behind his apartment building Monday. A friend retrieved the kitten because he doesn’t get around well, he said.

Pitroski and Lilly — the name he gave the kitten — will be special guests of festival patriarch and Fox 8 weatherman Dick Goddard. And Pitroski’s bittersweet hope is that he’ll be going home without Lilly, as Goddard is helping him find her a new family.

He said Goddard provided him with VIP festival passes, parking passes, VIP passes for the boat club afterward and — most importantly — a promise to take Lilly up on stage with him and help her find a new home.

“He said he knows some people, and he’ll make sure she gets a good home,” Pitroski said.

The huge one-day festival honors the woollybear caterpillar but also — thanks to Goddard — puts pets in the spotlight each year.

Giving the 6- to 8-week-old kitten up will be hard for Pitroski, who calls himself an animal lover, but concedes that with two cats and a beagle in his one-bedroom apartment, he can’t take any more.

Pitroski said he calls Lilly a cuddle-kitty because she can’t get enough of him — except when she’s snuggling up with the beagle, who she sleeps with.

“If I could keep her, I would,” he said, adding that he’s had animals his entire life — alligators, raccoons, a squirrel monkey and horses. He even had a pet squirrel for three years when he lived in one of Lorain’s high rises, he said.

Pitroski said he recognized the woman who threw Lilly into the lake from the neighborhood and is hopeful police will arrest her. Police aren’t optimistic they’ll have resources to devote to the investigation due to being short-staffed, Sgt. Mark Carpentiere said today.

Anyone interested in adopting Lilly can contact Pitroski at 242-0969.

Or look for him Sunday enjoying his and Lilly’s notoriety at the Woolly Bear Festival.

For Pitroski, who is a disabled veteran, it will be a big day.

“I don’t get out much, so I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.