Two men are charged with assault and other crimes after separate incidents this week in East Petersburg Borough and Mount Joy Township.
Justin Lee Eckman, 21, was charged with attacking a group of men while wielding a large piece of wood Monday night in East Petersburg Park.
In the Mount Joy incident, police said 27-year-old Bradley Newhouse dragged his fiancée along a roadway toward a cornfield before the woman convinced him to let her go.
Newhouse, of Latrobe, was charged with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct in connection with the Monday morning crimes.
The woman had picked up Newhouse from a Mount Joy Borough tavern before Newhouse became agitated in the car, according to a police affidavit, which gave this account: Inside the car, Newhouse grabbed the steering wheel and forced the car off Harrisburg Avenue near Mill Road.
The woman got out of the car, called 911 and started running west on Harrisburg Avenue. Newhouse got behind the wheel and drove after the woman. He found her, got out of the car and tackled her onto the road. Newhouse punched the woman and slammed her head into the road before dragging her by the hair toward a cornfield. The woman pleaded with Newhouse to let her go, and he eventually did. When police found the woman, she had cuts on her left shoulder and left leg, her face was bruised and swollen and one of her fingers was fractured, according to the affidavit. Bail for Newhouse was set at $25,000.
• According to police, in East Petersburg Park Monday night, Eckman confronted a group of men and swung a piece of wood the size of a baseball bat at them. A park guard and Pennsylvania state constable witnessed the attack and tried to confront Eckman. He fled in a car, striking the constable and a road sign as he did, police said. No one was seriously hurt. Information from witnesses led police to Eckman. He was charged with reckless endangerment, simple assault and a traffic violation for striking the sign.
Eckman was in county prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.
E-mail: bhambright@lnpnews.com


