Police: Local Man Facing Charges After He Battled 5 Officers Called To Investigate An Alleged Assault
By: KDKA-TV's Ross Guidotti
ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - A local man is facing charges after police say he got into a fight with a group of officers when they showed up to investigate an alleged assault.
For police, domestic incidents are never routine.
"Oh they're horribly unpredictable," Chief Duane Fisher of the Allegheny Township Police Department says.
One example is what happened at a house on Hancock Avenue in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County.
Police say when they got there, they found the alleged victim "still on scene showing fresh injuries from the assault." The suspect -- a man named James Rimmel -- was gone.
Investigators say as soon as the police left, Rimmel came back and police again returned. Rimmel was apparently spoiling for a fight.
"Mr. Rimmel grabbed the officer and threw him off the porch," says Chief Fisher. "A second officer and Mr. Rimmel rolled off the porch onto the first officer."
It wasn't until the third, fourth and fifth officer showed up that Rimmel was finally secured. Police turned him over on his back and that's when they discovered something very frightening.
"They found a 9 mm stuffed into his waistband. It was completely loaded with one in the chamber ready to go," said Fisher.
Elizabeth Frattallone, who lives across the street, is new to the neighborhood and was certainly shocked by what she witnessed.
"That's insane," she said. "That's really scary."
He's facing three felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges. One of the officers hurt his ankle but is recovering.