A Schuylkill County man was jailed overnight and is being held without bail following an alleged assault on a woman with a claw hammer.
Police in West Mahanoy Township say they responded to a call on Schuylkill Ave. in Shenandoah Heights shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday.
At the scene, police say they spoke with the victim of the alleged assault who reportedly said she and her boyfriend, 42-year-old Joshua Fowle, were smoking meth and thought they saw police creeping by their residence.
This allegedly enraged Fowle who grabbed a 16-ounce claw hammer and began striking the victim about the head, neck, chest, right arm, and legs. This caused the victim to suffer serious injuries, police say.
Fowle then allegedly grabbed the victim by her hair and began choking her to the point that she couldn’t breathe. He then allegedly dragged the victim out the rear of their residence and said, “I’m going to take you out in the woods and kill you.”
At some point, the victim told police she sat down next to Fowle by a shed in the yard and said she couldn’t go any further. That’s when Fowle allegedly hit her in the face with a phone and ran away.
Fowle was later apprehended on W. Coal St. in Shenandoah. Police say he had no shoes, was bleeding from his legs, and soaked with water.
He was formally arraigned by Magisterial District Court Judge Anthony Kilker on Wednesday afternoon and charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and a felony count of strangulation as well as misdemeanor counts of making terroristic threats, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and unlawful restraint, as well as a summary count of disorderly conduct.
Fowle is being held without bail after it was determined no condition or combination of conditions could reasonably assure the victim’s safety.
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