Newtown Woman Recognized for Assisting Police in July Fracas That Injured State Trooper

Officials in Reilly Township recently recognized a Newtown woman for the help she provided to a State Trooper during a late-night incident back in early July.

Lori Deichert was presented with a certificate and a nod of thanks from township supervisors and the police chief in Reilly Township at their regular July meeting.

Back on July 6, Deichert phoned State Police with regard to a woman who was trespassing on her property.

Deichert tells The Canary that a disorderly woman, identified as Amber Melochick in a police affidavit, was wandering around her neighborhood trespassing onto her and others’ property.

“She was really out of it, getting in my face, the whole nine yards,” Deichert says.

Deichert says this is not her first encounter with Melochick in the recent past. In previous incidents, Deichert says she was able to scare off the woman

As for this night last month, Deichert says, “She just wasn’t having it” and ignored attempts to get her to go away.

She tried for two hours to get her to go away but eventually phoned police and a State Police Trooper arrived on scene.

Trooper Brittany Lloyd, from the PSP-Schuylkill Haven barracks, arrived and noted that Melochick appeared to be high on methamphetamine and was “running in and out of the road.”

Lloyd says she made contact with Melochick. Deichert says she saw that interaction between the Trooper and Melochick. 

“The Trooper was trying to get the information off of her. And she couldn’t tell her what her name was. She didn’t know how she got there. She didn’t know where she was living. She didn’t know anything,” Deicert says.

Later during this incident, Melochick allegedly sat on an ATV on a nearby property and that’s when Lloyd attempted to place her under arrest. 

Melochick resisted and fled on foot. Deichert says she saw Lloyd chasing Melochick and they eventually came back to her position. 

When Melochick tried to scale an embankment, Lloyd caught up to her and got on top of her. But she was having a hard time containing her. 

“She was that out of it from the drugs, the Trooper couldn’t hold her,” Deichert says. 

That’s when Deichert decided to jump in to help. 

“I ran over and jumped on her, too,” Deichert says. “We were rolling around like alligators. We just couldn’t do it. She was like half our size.”

This struggle went on for quite a while. According to the police affidavit, at some point during the struggle, Lloyd attempted to cuff Melochick but Melochick grabbed the handcuffs. Lloyd then had to use a second pair she had on her. 

When Lloyd attempted to tase Melochick, Melochick was able to grab the Trooper’s wrist so that weapon couldn’t be deployed right away. 

Eventually, a newspaper delivery person, came to assist and get Melochick detained. Lloyd had to attempt to use her taser a second time and two probes hit Melochick but didn’t really do much to detain her. 

“They Tased her. That didn’t even faze her. She pulled the pins right out of her legs,” Deichert said.

In the ensuing scuffle, Melochick allegedly kicked Lloyd in the face. 

Deichert said she got roughed up a bit during the final struggle but it was nothing to what the Trooper experienced.

“I was getting whaled in the head, in the arms but I was below her,” Deichert said. “The Trooper got it worse.”

This kick and the struggle prior to getting Melochick detained resulted in several injuries for Lloyd, who was taken th Geisinger-St. Luke’s Hospital outside Orwigsburg.

Lloyd suffered lacerations to both knees and both hands, her left elbow, and the inside of her lip.

Melochick is facing a first-degree felony aggravated assault charge as well as a misdemeanor for simple assault and summary charge of disorderly conduct.

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