A Northampton police officer is accused of assaulting his wife and her adult son at their Upper Southampton home.
Michael C. Carter, 47, was arraigned Friday before Newtown District Judge Philip Daly on two counts of misdemeanor simple assault and two counts of summary harassment. He was released on $200,000 unsecured bail.
Reached Friday, Northampton police Chief Michael Clark said he could not comment on personnel matters, including whether Carter has been suspended as a result of the arrest.
The newspaper was unsuccessful in immediately reaching Carter’s attorney, Tom Logan, for comment Friday.
Bucks County detectives investigated the assault allegations after Upper Southampton police initially responded to a domestic call Tuesday from Carter’s 49-year-old wife, who reported that her husband had attacked her and her 19-year-old son, according to a probable cause affidavit. The woman had injuries consistent with being strangled and assaulted including scratch marks, redness on both sides of her neck, a bruised chin and a bleeding cut inside her upper lip, the affidavit said. She was treated at a local hospital for her injuries.
Her son had cuts to the right side of his head, redness under both eyes and redness on the side of his neck, according to police. Court documents do not say if he received medical treatment.
The officer’s wife claims that she and Carter were eating pizza and drinking in the den of their home Tuesday around 9 p.m. Court paperwork does not specify what the couple was drinking.
She said she had been talking about the possibility of her mother-in-law coming to stay at the house for the Christmas holidays while planned home renovations were underway, police said. At some point, she alleged, Michael Carter jumped off his chair, came over to the couch where she was sitting and started choking her, and hitting her with closed fists on the head, face and left ear area, the affidavit shows.
She eventually managed to push him away and the verbal argument continued, police added.
The woman’s son reportedly returned home with a friend and heard yelling and arguing inside the house. He said he went upstairs where his mother was collecting their belongings to leave and was told that Carter had assaulted her, police said.
After the son yelled downstairs to Carter, the off-duty officer ran upstairs and tackled him, both mother and son claim in court documents. Both fell to the ground and Carter allegedly started hitting the son on the head and gouged his eyes, police said.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
No comments:
Post a Comment