MAHANOY CITY — A Barnesville man was jailed early Friday morning, charged with trying to assault two Mahanoy City police officers with the vehicle he was driving.
Jonathan R. Kechula, 41, of 180 Buck Mountain Road, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault, two misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, one misdemeanor count each of fleeing or attempting to elude police, DUI, and resisting arrest and a summary offense of driving while operating privileges are suspended or revoked.
Kechula was arraigned by on-call Magisterial District Judge David J. Rossi, Tremont, and committed to Schuylkill County Prison, unable to post $50,000 straight cash bail.
Patrolman Thomas Rentschler charged Kechula with an incident that began about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday near 14th Street and Mahanoy Avenue, Mahanoy City.
Rentschler said he and Patrolman Rachael Lenar were conducting narcotics investigations when he saw Kechula in the 1300 block of East Pine Street, an area the department has been receiving numerous complaints about regarding illegal narcotics.
Officers watched as Kechula walked to the end of the block with another man, turned around and then walked back.
It was determined that Kechula was driving with a suspended license and, when he drove away from the scene from 14th Street to White Owl Drive, Rentschler tried to make a traffic stop, but the man accelerated to the intersection with Route 54 and then drove on that road, turning onto Buck Mountain Road, refusing to stop.
On Buck Mountain Road, Rentschler said, he was able to get his police cruiser alongside and then in front of the Kechula car, trying to force him to stop. The officer said he brought his police vehicle to a stop on an angle in the right lane partially blocking the left lane and exited. Kechula came toward the patrol vehicle in an attempt to pass on the left shoulder, but Rentschler returned to the police cruiser, blocked the left lane and exited with his weapon drawn.
After stopping his vehicle, Kechula ignored commands to exit and was forcibly removed and ordered to lay on the ground.
Kechula resisted and was taken to the ground using “a considerable amount of force,” Rentschler said, adding the man continued to resist until he was placed in the police cruiser.
Kechula appeared to be under the influence, failed a field sobriety test and then refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test, Rentschler said.
When interviewed, Kechula said he went to the 1300 block of East Pine Street to buy marijuana from a man but did not complete the purchase after seeing police.
He also said several times that the reason he did not stop is because he did not want his father’s car impounded, Rentschler said.