Police accuse man of being drunk with child in car, assaulting woman
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Northern Regional Police accused a Bucks County man of being drunk while driving with a toddler in his vehicle to a family Christmas dinner and then assaulting a woman when she asked him to pull over so she could take the wheel.
Thomas William Cooke, 40, of Edgewood Road in Yardley, was charged with a felony count of endangering the welfare of children along with counts of simple assault, DUI, harassment and defiant trespass.
He was released from custody on a nonmonetary bond and faces a preliminary hearing on Jan. 18 before District Judge William Wagner, according to court records.
Police wrote in a criminal complaint that shortly before 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 25, officers were dispatched to Perry Highway and Wallace Road in Pine for a report of a “rolling physical domestic” involving a man and woman in a vehicle.
Officers couldn’t find the white Honda Pilot they were reportedly driving until a second call was placed about 20 minutes later by the woman from a home in the 1000 block of Castle Lane in McCandless.
Police found Cooke standing outside the vehicle and told officers that he got into an argument with the woman but denied striking her, the complaint said.
Cooke also denied that he was drinking and consented to a series of field sobriety tests after an officer smelled alcohol on his breath, the complaint said. He failed all parts of the test, the complaint said.
The woman told police that Cooke was driving her and a 2-year-old girl to Christmas dinner at a home on Castle Lane when she and Cooke began arguing about his “incessant drinking habit,” the complaint said.
Cooke pulled over when she demanded that he let her drive, the complaint said.
But when they passed each other while exchanging places, Cooke punched the woman in the face and then pushed her to the ground, causing her to cut her lip, according to is arrest papers. Police said the woman’s injuries were consistent with what she reported.
Once they arrived at the home on Castle Lane, the woman ordered Cooke to remain outside because he was intoxicated, the complaint said.
Investigators said Cooke first tried to sneak into the house as another couple arrived and went inside before breaking the screen door to try to get in, the complaint said.
Cooke agreed to have blood drawn to determine the level of alcohol or drugs in his system, he complaint said. Results of those tests were not included in the criminal complaint.