Crime & Safety
Police: Man Pointed Gun Outside Downtown Club
Hector Manuel Padilla, 22, of Allentown, is accused of pulling gun during argument outside of 40 Below, early Saturday morning.
A man allegedly pointed a handgun at a woman outside a downtown Bethlehem nightclub during a fight between two groups early Saturday.
The man “then pulled the slide back in a manner which indicated to her that the handgun was being loaded,” a criminal complaint says.
The man, Hector Manuel Padilla of Allentown, did not fire the weapon but was charged in the incident outside the 40 Below Nightclub & Lounge and wound up in Northampton County Prison.
City Officer Jeff Lutte wrote in the complaint that he was patrolling in the area of the parking lot behind the nightclub – at 40 W. Broad St. – around 2am when he saw a group of people yelling.
He got out of his car and a woman told him a “chunky” male later identified as Padilla displayed a silver and black handgun after an altercation between two groups. The complaint says Padilla, 22, is 5-feet-5 and 240 pounds.
Padilla admitted to Lutte that he pulled the gun from his car – a blue 2003 Volkswagen Jetta sedan – and pointed it toward the woman and “other parties in her group.”
Padilla, of St. Lucas Street in Allentown, was charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned at 6am Saturday by on-duty District Judge Diane Marakovits of Northampton and committed to county prison in lieu of $7,500 bail.
