Crime & Safety

City Man Apprehended in SouthSide Assaults

Jonathan Diaz had been wanted since March 18 for brandishing a knife, then a gun during a fight on E. Sixth Street.

 

A Bethlehem man wanted for pulling a knife and then a gun during a fight with a man and two women in South Bethlehem last month has been apprehended according to The Express Times, citing court records.

Jonathan Diaz, 20, of 578 N. Clewell St. is charged with aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license, both felonies. Diaz is also charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person and two counts of harassment.

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He was committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail following is arraignment before District Judge Douglas Schlegel of Wind Gap.

Bethlehem police on March 18 as a result of a fight. The details of the incident were described this way in the affidavit of probable cause:

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Diaz, along with two other men who were not named in the warrant, showed up at 821 E. Sixth St. a little before 11 p.m., and accosted a woman who was there. Diaz put the woman in a chokehold and said “give me a kiss,” before planting a kiss on her lips.

An argument ensued and one of the woman’s friends, a man identified as William Rodriguez, grabbed Diaz and one of his friends. Another of the woman’s friends, a female, attempted to separate Diaz from Rodriguez.

Diaz then pulled out a folding pocketknife and lunged over the woman and at Rodriguez. Diaz lost control of the knife, which grazed and stuck to the Rodriguez’s sweater before falling to the ground harmlessly. When Rodriguez picked up the knife, Diaz pulled a black semi-automatic handgun out of his waistband and pointed it at Rodriguez.

Rodriguez and the women backed away, but Diaz pursued them to the porch of the home and pointed the gun in Rodriguez’s face. Diaz and his friends fled after the woman friend said she had called the police.


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