BOYERTOWN – A man with several warrants out for his arrest caused a stir Saturday night that ended with the sspect being shot with a stun gun after a police pursuit.
Boyertown Police Chief Barry Leatherman said one of his patrol officers was drawn to the 200 block of East Philadelphia Avenue around 11 p.m. by a loud argument between Jordan Simon and a young woman.
‘The officer recognized Jordan Simon from prior contacts and knew there were warrants for him.’ Leatherman said.
When the officer tried to detain Simon, 24, from Boyertown, and separate him from the woman, Simon resisted.
‘(Simon) tried to get away and started tussling with the officer, both fell to the ground, the officer suffered some scratches and bruises,’ Leatherman said.
Getting off the ground first, Simon allegedly ran away and was able to lose the Boyertown officer, who returned to his car to continue looking.
Within 15 minutes, Leatherman said, the officer located Simon again, emerging from between a pair of houses. A car was reportedly slowing down and it looked as if it was pulling in to pick Simon up. No information was available about the car in question.
Seeing the officer, Simon allegedly ran again. The officer pursued him on foot and ordered him to stop, which Simon allegedly ignored.
According to Leatherman, the officer again warned that he would shoot Simon with the stun gun, but Simon allegedly ignored that as well.
At that point, the officer shot Simon with the stun gun and ‘when he was hit with the Taser darts, (Simon) Simon hit his face on the ground,’ Leatherman said.
Because of those injuries, a medical helicopter flew Simon to Lehigh Valley Hospital. The Boyertown Fire Department helped establish a landing zone for the chopper.
Leatherman said Simon’s injuries were not life-threatening and that he had not yet been released from the hospital but sounded confident he would be in the near future.
As a result of the incident, Simon faces two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, and resisting arrest, according to court documents, in addition to the warrants he already had out for failure to appear in court for traffic charges.
In addition to the Boyertown Police, Colebrookdale Police were called to the scene after the original Boyertown officer was able to subdue Simon.
