Lehigh Valley Live — A 28-year-old Lehigh University graduate student “acting erratically” Sunday night in the Comfort Suites in the 100 block of West Third Street in Bethlehem assaulted three police officers and a sergeant who were escorting him to a voluntary mental health evaluation, court papers say.
Kendra Beazer, of the 800 block of Wyandotte Street, was arraigned early Monday before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez on charges of aggravated assault, disarming a law enforcement officer, flight to avoid apprehension, resisting arrest, simple assault and harassment, city police said.
Bethlehem and Lehigh University police were dispatched at 8:29 p.m. to the hotel and they were bringing Beazer down an elevator into the lobby but, as the doors opened, Beazer began to strip off his clothes, court papers say.
A university police sergeant tried to stop Beazer and Beazer pushed the sergeant to the ground and then punched a city police officer who stepped in, knocking her down, police said. Beazer then began to punch another city officer in the head and upper body before running out of the hotel, police said.
A city officer who was outside in a patrol vehicle chased Beazer on foot and warned he would fire his Taser, court papers say. Beazer turned and punched the officer several times in the head and upper body, police said. They went down to the ground, with the officer on top, but during the struggle, Beazer grabbed onto the Taser and it fired into the ground before Beazer was arrested, police said.
The three Bethlehem officers were hurt during the incident, police said.
Beazer was ordered housed in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail, records show. His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. March 22 before Gonzalez in South Bethlehem.
Beazer would have to undergo a mental health evaluation and “take all psychotropic medications as prescribed” if he were to be released on bail, court records say
Paperwork did not show an attorney for Beazer.
