District Court Judge AJ Serina granted a 30-day continuance of a preliminary hearing for a suspended Pottsville police officer on Tuesday afternoon.
Matthew Waite, 26, was suspended with pay after he was arrested and charged with simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor, and a summary offense of harassment, following an alleged domestic incident in Schuylkill Haven on Feb. 28.
Schuylkill Haven police responded to a call of a domestic dispute that night at Waite’s home in the borough. A female victim says Waite grabbed her under her arms and shoved her to the ground.
Waite reportedly told police he was trying to move her from in front of his vehicle “someone who is resisting” arrest and that’s when she fell to the ground. He was arraigned after the incident and remains free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
At his scheduled preliminary hearing on Tuesday before Serina, Waite’s attorney, John Arose, asked the court for a continuance.
Serina was willing to grant a 90-day continuance but Arose interjected and said he only wanted a 30-day continuance. Arose told the judge he didn’t want the ongoing case to have an adverse impact on Waite’s employment status.
“I’m trying to look out for his employment,” Arose told Serina.
Serina did not feel it was prudent to only have a 30-day continuance, believing that the parties might be back before him in a month seeking another continuance. The judge was also perturbed, to say the least, that Arose cut him off to ask for the 30-day continuance instead of the 90 days he was suggesting.
Arose then tried to take back the fact that he asked for the 30-day continuance but Serina was having none of it. He said, in open court, he was now worried that the 30-day window could fall in the middle of treatment his client was receiving. Afterward, Arose would not say what treatment that was, citing attorney-client privilege.
“I’m telling you, it better be done,” Serina said. “It better be done in 30. I was going to give you the 90.”
Arose kept trying to backtrack on his request for a 30-day continuance. Serina, however, made the attorney stick to his original request.
“Why did you cut me off,” Serina asked. “I put 90 out there because 90 is the wisest thing to do. I offered the 90. You didn’t want the 90. I know what you’re trying to do here. You don’t want (the case) to go to the next level.”
Waite remains suspended from the Pottsville police force pending an investigation.
The preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for May 27.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Pottsville Police Officer Suspended Pending Investigation of Alleged Domestic Incident
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