FOLEY, Ala. — Foley Middle School math teacher Patricia Given is recovering after being assaulted this past weekend.

According to Foley Police Lt. David White, 55-year-old Given was assaulted and robbed in the parking lot of Papa Murphy’s Pizza in Foley at around 6:15 p.m. Sunday.

“The victim was walking to her car when a subject violently knocked her to the ground, grabbed her purse and fled on foot,” White said.

He explained that police followed the assailant’s trail into a wooded area, as well as to a vehicle in the nearby Rent-a-Center parking lot.

“The vehicle was unlocked and was running when it was found, police suspected that this was the get-a-way car,” White said.

Further searching resulted in police locating and arresting 31-year-old Anthony Andrew Knight of Loxley.

Given suffered multiple injuries, including a bump on the head, a broken nose and two broken fingers.

“She got tore up some,” Doyle Given said of his wife’s wounds.

She was admitted to South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley and released Monday afternoon. According to her husband, Doyle, Given is expected to take five to seven weeks to fully recover.

Doyle Given said that his wife recalled allegedly seeing Knight standing in the parking lot, talking on a cellphone when she was going into Papa Murphy’s to get a pizza and that she noticed he was still talking when she came back outside. But when Given looked down to unlock her door, Knight allegedly hit her over the back of the head in order to steal her purse.

“He’s a coward, doing that,” Doyle Given said.

He added that the couple had previously discussed the idea of Patricia obtaining a gun permit so she could have a gun for protection. However, Doyle didn’t think it would have helped in this instance.

“He came in from behind her, and she didn’t know what hit her,” the teacher’s husband said.

After being arrested by Foley Police, Knight was transferred to the Baldwin County Jail in Bay Minette, where he remains in custody without bond on felony charges of robbery in the first degree and assault in the first degree.

This wasn’t Knight’s first arrest. His record dates back to 2002 and includes numerous burglary charges. His address is unclear, as Foley Police say he resides in Loxley, while Baldwin County Sheriff’s records say he lives in Point Clear.