FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Video released by Fairfield Township police shows officers arriving at a home where a woman was set on fire.
Police said crews responded to a home on the 2600 block of Arroyo Ridge at around 10:30 a.m. Thursday for the report of a woman on fire in a backyard.
Body camera footage released by police shows an officer arriving at the home and finding the woman. The video blurs her face out and only their conversation can be heard.
"Severe burns," the officer says. "Back here on the ground — severely burned."
Investigators said she jumped from the second-story window while on fire. The officer asks her to stay with him, telling her that medics are on their way.
"I gotta breathe," the woman says. "My inhaler's in the house ... I can't breathe, he knocked my teeth out."
After asking who hurt her, the officer runs to the front of the house and immediately takes 23-year-old Robbi Davon Robinson Jr. into custody. Robinson tells the officer, "I don't know what happened."
"Until I find out what's going on," the officer says as he cuffs Robinson.
A neighbor, Dennis Williams, was the one to find the woman laying in her backyard and called 911.
Williams said it was a normal day of working from home, until he heard his dog barking in an unusual way. This got him outside, where he found the woman laying on the grass and yelling for help.
"I said, 'what happened, what happened?' and she said, 'he set me on fire,'" Williams said.
He said he could immediately tell she was badly injured.
"She had just terrible, terrible burns on—I mean I'm no expert, but at least half her body—I mean terrible burns," Williams said. "She wasn't still on fire at that point, but there was a little bit of flame next to her that was dying."
At the time, he said he wasn't thinking, he was just doing what needed to be done. By Friday morning, he had had some time to process it all.
"Pretty traumatizing to see and everything that happened, but again I'm glad I was in a position to help," Williams said.
According to police, the woman was in a bedroom on the second home of the home when Robinson assaulted her then set her on fire.
The victim was airlifted to UC Medical Center in critical condition, Fire Chief Timothy Thomas said. Fairfield Township police said Friday she remained in critical condition after having surgery Thursday night.
Robinson was booked into the Butler County Jail for first-degree aggravated arson and second-degree felonious assault. Police said he resides in the home and referred to the victim as his stepmother.
"It's one that makes your hair stand up on the back of your neck, I don't care how long you've been doing it," said Fairfield Township Police Sgt. Brandon McCroskey.
A judge set Robinson's bond at $200,000. His next court date is May 17.
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