New Kensington man charged with assaulting girlfriend at her Plum home
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A New Kensington man is facing charges after police say he assaulted his “on and off again” girlfriend when she refused to answer her front door as he pounded on it one night in March.
David E. Saunders IV, 20, of New Kensington was charged with harassment and two counts of simple assault. Burglary and strangulation were added as summary offenses since the March 24 incident in the 110 block of Kelleywood Manor in Plum.
According to a criminal complaint filed against him, Saunders showed up at his girlfriend’s house “wanting to talk to her.”
“(The girlfriend) tried to ignore Saunders, but he kept pounding on the door demanding to talk to her,” the Plum officer said in the complaint.
Eventually, the woman opened the door and Saunders “grabbed her by the throat and pushed her towards the steps to her apartment.”
“Saunders then grabbed (her) by the back of her neck and hair, and forced her outside and down the sidewalk in an attempt to talk to her,” the complaint said.
At that point, the woman’s friend, a male who was inside the apartment, went outside to help her. The men started to fight.
The woman tried to break up the fight, then Saunders picked her up and slammed her to the ground, the complaint said.
That’s when other tenants from the apartment complex assisted in breaking up the fight, and Saunders left the area.
An officer who responded to the scene observed a “small scratch and blood on (her) right knee, and a few scuffs and scratches on her legs and arms.”
According to the complaint, the woman refused to be transported to the hospital.
Saunders had a preliminary hearing at the Plum magistrate’s office May 15, during which Magisterial District Judge Linda Zucco advanced the case to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. A non-monetary bail was set for Saunders, who was not placed in jail.
According to court records, Saunders was advised by police not to contact the woman.
He is scheduled to face a judge in July. Court records show Saunders waived his right to counsel May 15.