Deputy hears woman scream, quick action credited with saving her life

 Rickie Massei was awakened in the middle of the night Wednesday by someone ringing her doorbell.

"Who is it, who is it?  'Is Edgar there?' There's no Edgar I said just go," recalled Massei.

When the man said he wouldn't leave, Massei called 9-1-1.  It was one of three calls from 19th Avenue SW for a potential prowler in the neighborhood that brought deputy Danny Hatch out to the area.

Moments later, he heard a woman scream and saw a man later identified as Domonique Allen on the front porch of a home a block away, trying to force woman back inside by pulling her hair.

Before the alleged victim drove off, she told reporters that Allen said, "He was going to kill me and my daughter."

She told investigators she was asleep in her room when she woke up and saw Allen over her bed trying to get on top of her. She was able to get up, grab her infant and run outside.

"She did the right thing by screaming.  That alerted our deputy who was in the area and could very well have saved the life of her and her baby," said Sgt. Tom Raulen with the Indian River County Sheriff's Office.

Allen said he knew the victim.  The victim told investigators she had no idea who Allen was.

Christine Whitney lives across the street. She didn't hear the commotion overnight, but has a 10-month-old, and commended the victim's maternal instincts.

"Definitely first thing, run to my daughter's room," said Whitney.

News of the arrest was a relief to Massei and the rest of the neighborhood. "They captured him and I was like, 'oh me and my son are going to sleep easy now,' " said Massei.

Allen was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling with battery, a felony that could send him to prison for life.