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A Perkasie, Bucks County, man is facing charges after police say he “became irate” and punched a hole in a lobby wall inside Lower Saucon Township Police headquarters Sunday.
Daniel James Wright of Perkasie, Bucks County, is facing misdemeanor institutional vandalism and other charges after allegedly intentionally damaging a wall inside Lower Saucon Township Police headquarters and a township police vehicle on Sunday, March 17. (Credit: Lower Saucon Township Police/Crimewatch)
Daniel James Wright, 21, is also accused of deliberately damaging communication system wires behind a panel in a police department vehicle while he was in custody inside the vehicle following an earlier incident.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Northampton County District Court o3-2-04, police first encountered Wright after responding to an accident at Polk Valley and Lower Saucon roads Sunday evening.
Officers were dispatched the scene around 9:40 p.m. for a report of a driver who “was believed to be intoxicated” and a passenger who “was believed to have an active arrest warrant,” the complaint said.
When an officer on scene gave Wright verbal commands to stop, police said he ignored them and continued walking away from the site of the crash.
A subsequent attempt to handcuff him led to a struggle, according to court papers, which noted that after Wright was taken into custody he allegedly told local bystanders and residents to “suck my balls” and directed a homophobic epithet at them.
After Wright was placed in the back seat of a police vehicle, he was told he did not have an active arrest warrant and was offered a “courtesy transport” to a nearby location, the complaint said. At that point, police said he was also advised that he would receive charges in the mail.
Police said Wright then agreed to be taken to Lower Saucon Township Police headquarters on Old Philadelphia Pike to wait for a ride.
Once there, however, he “became irate and punched a hole in the drywall lobby wall,” police said in their affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
When an officer tried to re-arrest him, there was another struggle and both men fell to the ground, the document said.
According to court papers, Wright is charged with two Misdemeanor 2 counts of institutional vandalism, two Misdemeanor 2 counts of resisting arrest, a Misdemeanor 3 count of disorderly conduct-obscene language/gesture and a summary count of defiant trespass. Institutional vandalism charges can be filed against someone if police believe they willfully damaged public or government-owned property.
The docket filed in Wright’s case indicated that he was released on $5,000 unsecured bail following a preliminary arraignment Monday morning before District Judge Susan Hutnik.
A preliminary hearing before Judge Alan Mege in Lower Saucon Township is scheduled for Thursday, March 28 at 9 a.m., according to the docket, which did not list an attorney for Wright.
Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using information from Lower Saucon Township Police and Northampton County court records.
