A Delmont man awaiting trial for the alleged assaults of two Murrysville police officers was jailed this week.
The action came in response to another arrest last month in connection with claims he strangled and threatened his pregnant girlfriend.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Michael Stewart II revoked the $50,000 bond set last October following the arrest of James Crise, 19. Crise was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and weapons counts in connection with an incident Murrysville police said arose from a traffic stop.
According to court records, police contend Crise fought with officers after he attempted to flee from a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. Police said they suspected Crise was armed and that he appeared to reach for a gun in his waistband before he was taken to the ground and shocked multiple times with a Taser.
Police said Crise still managed to run toward nearby woods before he was shocked again with a Taser. He was eventually detained and found with a stolen gun, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Crise was arrested a second time in April, following allegations made by his girlfriend, who was then nine months pregnant with their second child. Police said she claimed she was strangled and threatened by Crise with a gun.
Crise, according to court records, was released from jail May 7 after District Judge Joe DeMarchis set a $5,000 unsecured bond in connection with the Jeannette case.
Stewart said the Jeannette allegations provided sufficient reason to revoke Crise’s bond.
“Quite frankly, when I look at the risk to the public, it is too much of a risk to have Mr. Crise on the street,” Stewart said Thursday.
Crise’s girlfriend, testifying with the couple’s newborn on her lap and another toddler at her side, recanted statements prosecutors said she gave to police from a Pittsburgh hospital following the April incident. At the time, she described being the victim of a violent assault at her Jeannette home.
Stewart said he believed her testimony recanting the allegations was not credible.
Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said a proposed plea deal with Crise involving the Murrysville assault case was withdrawn after his arrest in Jeannette.
“It is striking what this woman went through when she was nine months pregnant. She had to pretend her water broke and go to the hospital just to get away,” Lazar said of the Jeannette allegations.
Crise is scheduled to appear before DeMarchis on June 11 for a preliminary hearing in the Jeannette case.
A trial on charges related to the alleged Murrysville incident has not been scheduled.