Woman facing charges for allegedly hitting lover with SUV

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A man is recounting a frightening ordeal in which he said a woman with whom he's romantically involved hit him with her SUV.

While Demarco Dent is recovering from injuries to his legs, arms and back, 31-year-old Iyana Mentor is in the Clayton County Jail on aggravated assault and hit-and-run charges.

"I just see the lights just coming at me. She's just driving at me full speed," Dent told Channel 2's Tom Jones, while hobbling on crutches outside his home.

Dent said he'll never forget the sound of Mentor racing her engine as she repeatedly drove her SUV at him trying to hit him. After two tries, he said he couldn't avoid her.

"Pow! (She) just hit me, man," he said.

Dent believes Mentor meant to kill him.

"If I wouldn't have moved, she would have caught me square head-on," he said.

Dent said his near-death experience began when he asked Mentor for a ride to Riverdale Road. He said they are romantically involved, but not boyfriend-girlfriend. He's known her about three months.

He said as they drove up Highway 85 near Riverdale, "she got mad and upset and it's like, 'You just got off work and you not going to spend (any)time with me?'" he said.

Dent said Mentor became irate, using profanity, calling him names and driving recklessly. He said he then asked her to let him out, and she did. As he walked along Highway 85, he said she tried to hit him with her 2006 Acura SUV. She missed. He said she made a U-turn and tried to hit him again but he dodged her.

As he neared a Citgo gas station to seek safety, he said that's when she revved her engine and came toward him a third time.

Cicely Reed said she saw Mentor waiting in the median. She said all of a sudden, Mentor "sped out in front of us and hit him."

"I just remember flipping up and landing on the ground," Dent said.

Dent said if he hadn't moved, "I'd probably be dead right now. (You) wouldn't be here interviewing me."

A Clayton County judge looked at the charges and the circumstances surrounding the allegations and denied bond for Mentor.

No one answered the door when Jones went by her home trying to get her side to this story.

WSBTV