Hearings set for two charged with assault

STAFF REPORT

SHARON, Pa. — Preliminary hearings were set for two people charged with aggravated assault.

Helen Brown, 56, of Baldwin Avenue, is charged in the assault of a 50-year-old woman Wednesday evening. Her hearing was set for 9:30 a.m. today in District Magistrate Henry Russo’s office.

Sharon Police Chief Michael Menster said police were called to a Christmas Eve gathering at Brown’s house on allegations she was intoxicated and attacked the woman there.

Sharon’s police report indicates Brown grabbed a steak knife and a fork and tried to cut the woman’s face. The woman grabbed the knife and wrestled it away, so Brown grabbed a pot lid and hit her in the head repeatedly, Menster said.

Then, Brown hit the woman in the head with a heavy glass ashtray and a cordless phone before other family members finally restrained her, the police report said.

The woman had numerous minor cuts, but didn’t seek medical help, Menster said. Brown also faces a charge of simple assault.

A hearing is set at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 7 at Magistrate Russo’s for Dale Kelly, 45, of South State Line Road.

Kelly was taken to Sharon Regional Hospital around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, where he became combative, Menster said.

Kelly, who was intoxicated, was at the hospital for cuts on his arm and foot, the police report said.

He shoved a nurse so hard she fell backward, and he spat blood into a doctor’s face, Menster said. He had to be restrained.

Menster said Kelly faces an aggravated rather than simple assault charge because doctors and nurses are in a protected class of workers under the Pennsylvania crimes code, along with police, firefighters, paramedics and meter readers. He also faces a terroristic threat charge for threatening to “cut” the doctor, Menster said.

He was arraigned Monday and released on a $7,500 bond.