Man arrested on bench warrant
The defendant was arrested in September and escaped from the hospital.
STAFF REPORT
SHARON, Pa. — Police arrested a man wanted for failing to appear at a court hearing on charges stemming from a violent struggle with police, said police Chief Michael Menster.
Kevin Washington Jr., 50, who at one time had an address on Pennsylvania Avenue in Farrell, was wanted on a bench warrant out of Mercer County Court of Common Pleas for failing to appear at an April 7 hearing concerning a September chase through Sharon and Farrell that resulted in charges of aggravated assault, fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
A Sharon officer tried to stop Washington on Sept. 14 for running a stop sign, and he fled into Farrell and back into Sharon, wrecking into a tree on Prindle Street. He got out of the car and struggled in the street with five police officers, who tried a stun gun and pepper spray on him with no results, Menster reported at the time.
The aggravated assault charges resulted from Washington having almost wrecked head-on into a police cruiser during the chase and for spitting blood into an officer’s face during the struggle. That officer had to undergo tests for blood-borne diseases.
After the wreck, Washington was taken to Sharon Regional Health System’s hospital, where he was uncooperative in the ambulance, Menster said.
He was transferred to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, where he escaped while police were awaiting medical clearance to bring him back to Sharon on a warrant.
He was found Sept. 23 near Meadville during a traffic stop. He gave a fake name, but police realized who he was later and tracked him to a bar, where a police dog helped in his arrest.
He was sent to Mercer County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond, but that was reduced to $50,000. He posted bond Dec. 18.
Menster said Tuesday an officer found Washington on a tip about a car he might be in. He was spotted at 8:10 p.m. Monday at Stambaugh Avenue and Connelly Boulevard, and was stopped a short time later. He was arrested at gunpoint without incident, the chief said.
He was arraigned and had a bond revocation hearing Tuesday before Senior District Magistrate Henry Russo in Sharon.
New charges pending in the Monday stop include possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Menster said police found suspected powder cocaine and 32 packages of suspected crack with Washington.
His bond on those charges is $75,000, and his bond on simple assault charges out of Hermitage is $75,000. He was in Mercer County Jail late Tuesday.
Information on the Hermitage charges was not available Tuesday.