Wanted Man Charged with Throwing Beer at Cop

A South Bethlehem man wanted for the alleged abuse of his 7-year-old son was taken into custody after he allegedly threw a full beer can at a city police officer responding to a vehicle accident on Thursday night, police said.

Sapankumar Adhikari, 33, of 545 Ontario St., was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct following the incident near the suspect’s home on the 500 block of Ontario Street, police said.

The suspect was picked up by officers responding to the scene of a car accident at a little after 7 p.m. While Officer Matthew Laxton was investigating the car crash, he was hit in the left foot with a full 12-ounce can of Miller High Life Beer. When Laxton turned around, he saw Adhikari standing on the sidewalk 10 feet behind him, police said.

According to the Bethlehem Police Blog’s account of the incident, Laxton asked Adhikari: “So you throw things at police?” Adhikari, who according to police appeared intoxicated, walked away and stumbled into the street. Later police said he said: “I throw the can, I’m making sure you cops are doing your job.”

Earlier that day, the had issued an internal patrol alert for Adhikari because he was wanted on felony charges of assault and reckless endangerment of his 7-year-old son, police said. “Adhikari made very serious threats to kill his wife and two children,” police said.