Warrant Issued for City Man Charged With Assault

An arrest warrant was issued for a Bethlehem man accused of pulling a knife then a gun during a confrontation on a SouthSide street Saturday night, according to court records.

Jonathan Diaz, 20, of 578 N. Clewell St. is charged with aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license, both felonies, in the warrant issued by night duty District Judge Joseph Barner, Lower Nazareth Township, over the weekend.

Diaz is also charged by with simple assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person and two counts of harassment.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the following occurred:

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.