Assault Suspect Says Victim Threatened Wife

Here’s what a officer found out when dispatched to a disturbance Thursday afternoon at a home on Wilson Avenue, which runs along the Lehigh River in the southern part of the township:

A 20-year-old man who lives in the house said his neighbor attacked him with the butt of a large knife and that the neighbor’s wife blocked the door, preventing him from getting out.

The neighbor, 44, admitted he struck the man – not with the butt of a knife but with the end of a pool cue taped up to be used as a club. He said he hit the man -- with the cue and with his fists -- because the man had previously threatened his wife, had come into the house yelling about the wife going through his room, had “made fists” and faced him while yelling, and then was pushing his wife.

The verdict? Police charged the neighbor, Jeffrey M. Werkheiser of 4001 Wilson Ave. with aggravated assault, simple assault with a deadly weapon and harassment.

A criminal complaint, filed by township Patrolman Sean Hedges and from which the above information was taken, provides more details:

• When Hedges arrived a little after 2pm, he first encountered the 20-year-old, who was bleeding from his head and mouth. He talked about being punched and then struck with the butt of a knife.
• Werkheiser was standing in the living room talking on his cell phone. He was cooperative and taken into custody without incident. He said he was at the house to keep his wife safe because of past threats by the 20-year-old. He said he was sitting in the kitchen with the pool cue behind him on a chair when the young man came home.
• Werkheiser’s wife said she performs work for the young man’s father and was at the house doing laundry. She said the young man had threatened her before and that her husband came over to confront the young man and tell him to stop the threats. She said her husband brought the pool cue “just in case there was a problem.”
• The wife said she and her husband were in the kitchen eating when the young man entered. She said she tried to get out of the way during the fight and could not give details of what occurred.
• Hedges again spoke to the young man, who by this time was in an ambulance and about to be transported for treatment. The young man said he came home to get his tool box and leave, but Werkheiser confronted him and threatened him with a large knife. He told of being hit with the butt of the knife and trying to get out and that Werkheiser’s wife blocked the door.

Werkheiser was arraigned later Thursday afternoon by on-duty District Judge Diane Marakovits of Northampton. He was committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.