Lyons man tries to drown girlfriend in bathtub: Riverside cops
BY LUKE WILUSZ Staff Reporter September 8, 2013 9:50PM
Michael D. Bruner | Riverside police photo
Updated: September 8, 2013 9:50PM
A Lyons man was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly tried to drown his girlfriend in a bathtub three times early Saturday in west suburban Riverside.
The 53-year-old woman got into an argument with Michael D. Bruner about 8 p.m. Friday in her coach house in Riverside, according to a news release from Riverside Police. A short time later, they argued a second time about missing prescription drugs inside the home. Then the woman left for a friend’s house in Berwyn.
She returned about 1 a.m. Saturday, and another argument broke out about Xanax pills that were missing from the home, police said.
The woman went upstairs to take a bath, but pushed her into the tub, started to choke her and pushed her head under the water, police said.
She broke free twice and after the third drowning attempt, she managed to run to the main house at the front of the property and call 911 about 2 a.m., police said.
She was standing in front of the house screaming when police arrived and told responding officers that her boyfriend had tried to drown her. Officers saw Bruner leaving the coach house through a side door and arrested him as he tried to flee, police said.
Bruner, 60, was charged with one count of attempted murder and one count of felony aggravated domestic battery by strangulation, police said. Bruner has previous convictions for burglary, theft, drugs, forgery and DUI, police said.
