Four people charged with DUI
Suspected drunk driver Taurance Johnson, of 1122 Charles St., had been taken into custody and driven by a state trooper to UPMC Williamsport, where he freely submitted a blood sample on the morning of Feb. 28, according to court records.
However, after he was released by police, Johnson, 39, sent a text message to the hospital “offering to pay whatever or give whatever to have his blood-alcohol concentration level altered to be under .08,” a trooper alleged in an affidavit.
Johnson, driving a 2003 Ford Explorer, was stopped in the area of Riverside Drive and Maynard Street in South Williamsport about 12:10 a.m. after a state trooper recognized him and knew his license was suspended, the affidavit stated.
City man charged in two separate disturbances
Brandon Hipple’s voice was so loud that it “could be heard echoing off the houses throughout the entire 1000 block of Baldwin Street,” according to an affidavit filed by city Patrolman Thomas Bortz.
Officers were dispatched to Hipple’s home at 1027 Baldwin St. about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 14 after two neighbors were awakened by Hipple “yelling at the top of his lungs,” Bortz said police were told.
This had been going on for more than three hours beginning the night before, the officer said.
Hipple, 29, came out of his house and threatened to “commit crimes of violence” towards his neighbors, Bortz alleged in court papers.
Montoursville man charged with assault
While watching football with family members and a group of friends, a verbal argument between Daniel Ammerman and Austin Straub soon escalated to a confrontation in which Ammerman began pummeling Straub in the face and head, state police alleged in court papers.
The assault occurred at Straub’s home at 626 Crawley Hill in Penn Township about noon on Dec. 14, police said.
Straub was upset that Ammerman, was “disrespecting people in the home,” police said, adding that Ammerman, 37, of 415 Weldon St., Montoursville, allegedly struck Straub multiple times and knocked him to the ground, according to an affidavit.
City man allegedly made threats
Weldon Fletcher, 41, of 1421 W. Fourth St., has been jailed on charges of allegedly threatening a woman and her son first with a machete and then with a handgun, city police said.
Police responded to Fletcher’s home to handle a domestic situation about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. Police said Fletcher allegedly threatened Shanee Gaines and her son with a machete following an argument between Fletcher and Gaines inside the home.
After Gaines managed to convince Fletcher to put down the machete, Fletcher then obtained a handgun and began waving it around, pointing it at both Gaines and her son and threatening to kill them, police alleged. After obtaining a search warrant, officers went through the home and seized two handguns and a machete.
May 4, 2021
MUNCY Hearing the commotion coming from the apartment above, the woman grabbed her phone to call 911 when she heard a man upstairs yelling “Someone call the cops,” according to court records filed by borough Patrolman Ernest Delp.
Upstairs in the apartment they share at 8 S. Washington St., Sheree Speicher was beating Richard Bates with a metal pole, Delp alleged in an affidavit.
As she struck Bates, Speicher, 38, told him she was going to kill him, the officer alleged. Police were called to the apartment about 4:40 p.m. on April 26, the officer added.
The two had just returned from a trip to Philadelphia, and Bates soon went into the bedroom to take a nap, but Speicher began arguing with him, Delp said police were told.