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Crime & Safety

Police: SouthSide Man Beat Girlfriend, Friend

Police say drunken Fiot Street man broke into W. Fourth Street home, assaulted his girlfriend, her friend and later resisted arrest.

 

A man suspected of being drunk broke the door to get into the SouthSide home of his “domestic partner,” assaulted her and another woman, then resisted arrest when police tried to take him into custody, court records say.

Jose Angel Ortiz-Benabe, 28, is accused in the incident early Wednesday on the 300 block of W. Fourth St.

According to a criminal complaint filed by city Officer William P. Audelo:

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  • The domestic partner said Ortiz-Benabe got home around 1:50am and broke her front door in order to get in. She said he charged at her in the kitchen and pushed her to the floor.
  • The second woman said she saw the suspect put his hands around the other woman’s neck and push her down. She said the suspect struck her – the second woman -- when she intervened.
  • City Officer Christopher Kopp found the suspect running in the area of Itaska and Alaska streets. When he tried to take the suspect into custody, the suspect used “physical force” to resist Kopp.
  • Ortiz-Benabe had a strong odor of alcohol, as well as glassy eyes and slurred speech. The complaint does not list his blood-alcohol content.

Ortiz-Benabe, of 808 Fiot St., Bethlehem, was charged with two counts of simple assault and one count each of resisting arrest or enforcement, criminal mischief/intentional damage and public drunkenness.

He was arraigned at 4:48am Wednesday by on-duty District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.

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