Wanted man charged after battling with Lower Burrell officers, police say
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A man awaiting trial on a felony strangulation charge was accused by Lower Burrell police of driving with a suspended license in a car that had no insurance and had an expired registration and inspection.
Thomas Henry Suppers Jr., 37, of the 500 block of Sycamore Street in Vandergrift was charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault along with simple assault and resisting arrest after two officers were injured in a scuffle at the police station, according to a criminal complaint.
Suppers is being detained in the Westmoreland County jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash bond, according to court records. He faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec on Tuesday.
In May 2021, Suppers was charged by state police with a felony count of strangulation along with simple assault and harassment, according to court records.
In February 2022, he pleaded guilty in an Armstrong County court to the simple assault charge but was ordered to stand trial on the remaining counts. A bench warrant was issued when he did not appear for scheduled hearings, according to authorities.
Suppers was arrested Jan. 28 in Lower Burrell after a patrol officer spotted a vehicle on Route 56 near Craigdell Road that had a registration suspended for insurance cancellation and a burned-out center brake light, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said Suppers was driving with a suspended license, and the car’s owner was in the passenger seat.
Suppers was taken to the Lower Burrell police station after police on the scene were notified about the warrant for his arrest.
Investigators said Suppers complied with police until he was ordered to remove the laces from his shoes when he got to the police station, which is the department’s policy, the complaint said.
Police said Suppers continued to refuse to obey orders and began resisting and fighting while officers placed him in handcuffs with his arms behind his back.
Officers were able to bring him to the ground, but he kept fighting until they threatened to use a taser to get him under control, the complaint said. Suppers is accused of trying to bite one of the officers on the hand while they were grappling, according to the complaint.
Suppers again became combative and tried to bite an officer who was attempting to attach a second set of cuffs from his arms to a metal rail on the wall after he refused orders, the complaint said.
During the struggle, skin on one officer’s right ring finger was torn off by the handcuffs. Another officer’s hand was hurt when it got between Suppers’ head and a wall, the complaint said.