Man accused by Buffalo Township police of terrorizing woman in her home ordered to trial
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A man accused of terrorizing a woman in her Buffalo Township home after she broke off their relationship has been ordered to stand trial.
Nicholas D. Brown, 34, of the 1100 block of Airedale Drive in Bethel Park was charged with counts of making terroristic threats, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment.
Buffalo Township police wrote in the criminal complaint charging Brown that officers responded to a home along Creekside Drive shortly before 10:30 p.m. April 14 for a report of an intoxicated man trying to get into the house.
Police said a woman who answered the door was “crying and visibly shaken” as she ran from the house, telling officers that there was a man in her bedroom who was being “aggressive” toward her.
The man, later identified as Brown, was found outside at the back of the house with a towel wrapped around his hand in an attempt to slow bleeding, the complaint said.
Brown told police he and the woman had an argument, the complaint said.
He said he was concerned about her well being after she locked herself in a bedroom and that he injured his hand breaking through the door to check on her, police said. He admitted to police he was drinking that night, the complaint said.
The woman told police Brown had the key code to her front door and was at the house when she arrived home from work, according to the complaint.
She said Brown was “drunk and high” and began arguing with her when she asked him to leave, the complaint said.
She told police that to deescalate the situation, she went to a bedroom and locked the doors behind her, police said.
She said Brown broke the lock on that door to get in and got angry because she refused to engage with him. She said Brown pinned her on the bed with her arms above her head and then pulled her hair because she refused to look at him.
The woman told police Brown left the room briefly and that when he returned, he grabbed her by the wrist again and began threatening to kill her, saying he would get a knife “because one of us is going to die tonight,” the complaint said.
When Brown went to retrieve a knife, the woman ran to a bedroom where she locked the door as well as a door to the bathroom that was inside, police said.
She said Brown broke through the first door and then broke the lock on the bathroom door, so she tried to hide in a closet, the complaint said.
The woman told police Brown cornered her in the closet and repeatedly pushed her into the clothing racks until she heard police arriving and ran to the front door.
Police said the woman had “fresh” bruises on her wrists and that the locks on two doors were broken.
The door to the bedroom where she tried to escape was heavily damaged, and officers found droplets of blood on the floor near the threshold along with a pair of scissors, police said.
The woman told police the scissors were stored in a kitchen drawer. Police said they found droplets of blood near a pack of cigarettes that Brown left on the counter above the drawer.
They also found blood on the carpeting in the closet as well as in the bathroom, according to the complaint.
Brown was detained in the Butler County jail on a $30,000 cash bond following his April 13 arrest but released from custody April 26 when a Pittsburgh bail agency posted a bond on his behalf, according to court records.
On April 26, Brown waived his right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Susan Haggerty, who ordered him to stand trial on the charges in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
Formal arraignment on the charges is scheduled for June 20, according to court records.