South Bethlehem Man Punched Cop in Mouth, Police Say

A South Bethlehem man allegedly punched a city police officer in the mouth when the officer responded to a domestic disturbance on Hayes Street Tuesday, according to court papers.

Justin DeSentis, 26, whose home address is listed as the address where the alleged disturbance took place, is facing charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, burglary and terroristic threats.

Police responded to the apartment at 606 Hayes St. at a little before 7 p.m., according to the arrest affidavit. The call was dispatched as a man with a knife who broke down the door, wrote arresting Officer James Freed.

When Freed and Officer William Marques arrived, they could hear a man and woman arguing, police said.

Freed and Marques went up the stairs and ordered DeSentis to put his hands in the air and turn around. At first, DeSentis complied, but then he said an obscenity, turned around and walked back into the apartment, police said.

The officers ran into the apartment after DeSentis, who picked up a long, white door safety bar and “came after” Marques, police said. Marques knocked the bar out of DeSentis’s hands. DeSentis then punched Freed in the mouth, which caused a cut to his lower lip, police said.

DeSentis resisted arrest by holding his hands and arms together in an effort to prevent police from putting handcuffs on him, police said.

The woman told police that DeSentis broke open the door to get into the apartment while she was home, police said. She also told police that DeSentis told her: “I’ll kill you if you get a PFA.”

DeSentis was arraigned before on-duty District Judge James Narlesky of Hanover Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.