A man accused of driving a woman he met on a dating app around Atlanta and beating her for more than an hour was arrested after another person recognized him through social media, according to reports.
Benjamin Fancher was taken into custody by the Kent Police Department in New York on Tuesday, Atlanta police spokeswoman Officer TaSheena Brown confirmed to AJC.com. Police were not able to provide further details on the arrest.
Brittany Correri, the alleged victim of the attack, said she was overwhelmed after hearing about the arrest.
“I am FLOODED with emotions,” Correri wrote in an Instagram post.
Correri, who is from metro Atlanta, said she met Fancher through the Hinge dating app. She said she and Fancher got along well while talking on the app, and she allowed him to pick her up from her home for a date. The pair went to several Atlanta bars and restaurants, she told Channel 2 Action News.
“He was a super nice guy, just super nice,” she said. “We were laughing the whole night, just having a great time.”
At some point, the woman returned to the man’s car with him. As they drove around, he “became angry” with her, police said.
Correri said Fancher called her the n-word and yelled at her for dancing with two other women in the bar, Channel 2 reported. The woman said he wouldn’t let her out of the car and drove around for an hour before pulling over in the 1100 block of Howell Mill Road.
The man grabbed Correri by the hair and started pulling her out of the car, she told the news station. A security guard intervened and called 911 after hearing Correri scream.
Atlanta police obtained warrants accusing Fancher of aggravated assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment. On social media, Correri posted photos of her injuries and urged her followers to be careful while going on dates.
On Instagram Tuesday, Correri indicated those posts helped lead to Fancher’s arrest.
“We found him because somebody recognized him from social media!!” she wrote.
A woman living in New York went to police after recognizing Fancher from Correri’s posts, Channel 2 reported.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she met Fancher on a dating app, Channel 2 reported. She said Fancher told her he had recently moved to New York from Georgia.
Later, she saw Correri’s posts about being beaten by a man she met on a dating app.
“It came up on my timeline kind of thing,” the woman said. “The second they put his picture up, I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I know him.’”
The woman said she and Fancher never went out, but she remembered him saying he had moved in with his grandparents. She told Channel 2 she found his grandparents' address.
“So I drove by and I saw his car in the driveway. So I went straight to the police department,” the woman said. Fancher was arrested soon after.
“My gut instinct was right,” the woman said.
Fancher is in custody in New York and expected to be extradited to Georgia.
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