Son faces trial in dad's Bristol Twp. bludgeoning death

Posted: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 

Bristol Township police Officer Kurt Leacock said he received a strange reply from Jazs Bronner when he asked if Bronner saw his 73-year-old father fall in his Winder Drive home the day he died.

“I guess you’re going to arrest me,” Bronner answered, according to Leacock, who testified during a preliminary hearing Wednesday in the case of the 44-year-old Bristol Township man who is accused of killing Orlando Bronner Sr. with a 10-pound weight March 31.

When Leacock asked Bronner the question again, Bronner launched into a story about how he and his father got into an argument that morning after the older Bronner taunted his son by asking if he was a “tough guy,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

Jazs Bronner 

Bronner claimed his father threw a punch at him, but missed, the officer said. The son responded with a punch that he thought hit his father, Leacock said. The two men ended up in a “bear hug” and fell to the bedroom floor; the younger Bronner got up, but his father did not move, according to police and court records.

Leacock testified that he noticed that the knuckles on Bronner's right hand were bloodied.

Bristol Township police Officer Thomas Van Winkle testified that when he arrived at the home, he found Orlando Bronner unconscious, unresponsive and bleeding from the head. 

While Van Winkle initially responded to the home for a medical call, he testified that he suspected what he found was no accident. A blood-stained, gold dumbbell was found near Bronner’s body.

The coroner's report concluded the elder Bronner died of four blows to the head with a blunt instrument. The report also noted metal or metallic paint flakes embedded in his skull.

Lead investigator Detective Douglas Slemmer testified that Bronner claimed he saw the blood when he lifted his father’s head and discovered he landed on a dumbbell weight, which he moved away from his father’s body.

Bronner didn't call 911 or give his father any medical assistance, though he's a Navy veteran trained as a field medic, Slemmer said. Instead, he dug through his father’s pants pockets for house keys, the detective testified.

When he found them, Bronner left the house and drove to his mother’s Trenton home, police said. Later that day, Bronner and his mother, Annie, returned to the house and Annie Bronner called police, the detective said.

Bronner later claimed he didn’t provide medical assistance because he “panicked,” the detective said.

Following testimony, Bristol Township District Judge Joanne Kline held Bronner for trial on charges of homicide and possession of an instrument of crime. He remains in Bucks County prison without bail.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia