Former State Rep. Todd Eachus – who was arrested at and jailed following an Amazon data center public hearing in Schuylkill County in June – had felony counts of aggravated assault against him withdrawn Wednesday morning at District Court in Frackville.
Eachus, 63, appeared for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli related to an alleged disturbance he is accused of causing at a June 30 public hearing for a proposed Amazon data center in Kline Township. The former Democrat legislator who represented Luzerne County in the state House of Representatives from 1997 until 2010 was charged with four felony counts of aggravated assault against designated individuals, four misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, and misdemeanor counts of disrupting a meeting and disorderly conduct.
Eachus was jailed on $10,000 bail by Magisterial District Judge Christian Lengel on the night of the arraignment. He posted bond the next morning (July 1).
Just prior to testimony being given at this morning’s hearing, First Assistant District Attorney Mike Stine said the Commonwealth was withdrawing the four felonies against Eachus. During the incident at the data center hearing, Eachus was forcibly removed by Kline Township police officers at the direction of the township’s Planning Commission board chairman Henry Matthews.
In his affidavit charging Eachus, Kline Township Police Det. Paul Bowman says the former state rep threw several punches at officers, pulled away from them, and tried to bite his left arm. However, while on the witness stand this morning, under questioning from Eachus’ attorney Doug Taglieri, of Pottsville, Bowman admitted “there were movements to that effect” but no actual punches were thrown. The alleged attempted biting was not brought up in today’s hearing but the charges were withdrawn regardless.
Tarantelli also agreed to reduce the number of resisting arrest charges against Eachus from four to one, without any objection from Stine. All other charges were held for Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas, where Eachus will be formally arraigned on the remaining counts at a date in the near future.
Commonwealth v. Todd Eachus: Preliminary Hearing
Based on questioning at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, Eachus contends that the Kline Township Planning Commission did not allow him to object to a rule put in place prior to the public hearing that limited public comments to residents and taxpayers of that municipality. Eachus is from Drums, which is in Luzerne County’s Butler Township.
Matthews testified that it was the Planning Commission’s solicitor, Mark Semanchik, who advised the board to enact that restriction on public comments for the purposes of the hearing, which spanned two days, June 30 and July 1. The commission chairman, Matthews, when questioned on the solicitor’s name, did not actually know it off-hand, despite being on the board since earlier this year. He actually called him “Shemansky” after a brief period of trying to remember it.
Eachus was the second person to speak at that June 30 hearing, right after another person who was told he couldn’t offer comments because he is from Pottsville. Matthews testified that as Eachus approached a podium before the planning commissioners, board members told him that he’s not from Kline Township.
“He grabbed the microphone and just started talking,” Matthews said.
Bowman said during his testimony that Eachus “basically darted up to the podium” to speak.
“He grabbed the microphone and started yelling at the board,” Bowman said, describing the scene as he saw it.
As Eachus was talking, Matthew testified that he dropped his gavel and told Eachus “We’re not doing this. We’re not going to have someone stand here and grandstand. I gaveled him. He still didn’t stop. I asked for him to be removed.”
However, under cross-examination by Taglieri, Matthews admitted that he didn’t actually hear what Eachus was saying as he was gaveling him to stop talking.
“What was he saying,” Taglieri asked.
Matthew responded, “Quite honestly, I don’t know. It was loud between the two of them.”
The other loud party in Eachus’ exchange at the hearing was Planning Commission member Anthony Perna. Perna, based on video of the incident from The Shenandoah Sentinel that was presented as evidence on Wednesday, repeatedly yelled “NO” as Eachus was speaking during the public comment.
Taglieri argued, “The actions of the Planning Commission are what set all of this in motion.”
He said anyone – not just township residents and taxpayers – can raise objection to perceived violations of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act and that is what his client intended to do.
“That simply was not granted to Mr. Eachus,” Taglieri said. “He was given no opportunity to raise concern. He was refused.”
He also argued in trying to compel Tarantelli to drop the charges against Eachus, that his client and Perna, the Planning Commissioner who yelled “NO” repeatedly were yelling at each other and there was no disorderly conduct.
After being told to stop talking and not doing so, Eachus was forcibly removed from the hearing. Bowman said he approached the podium from behind and put one hand near Eachus’ shoulder.
“He basically elbowed my arm off his shoulder,” Bowman said.
Bowman then said he and Kline Township Ofc. Christopher Daynorowicz allowed Eachus to speak “for a little bit” but then worked to detain him when “he pushed past the podium” toward the commission members. Those two officers and Kline Township Police Chief Justin Farley then moved Eachus toward the hallway of the McAdoo/Kelayres Elementary School, where the hearing was held in the gymnasium.
“He attempted to pull officers to the ground right before the hallway,” Bowman added, saying the three officers “had to utilize a substantial amount of force” to eventually detain Eachus.
Prior to Bowman’s testimony, Hazleton Area School District Police Ofc. Kevin Ruby testified that he spoke with Eachus prior to the data center hearing in the hallway. Ruby said he has known Eachus a “long time”.
He said he told Eachus, “Don’t cause any problems” to which Eachus allegedly responded, “You’re going to have to throw me out of here tonight.”
Ruby said he responded to Eachus’ alleged comment by saying, “Todd, please.”
He said he didn’t tell anyone about the conversation he had with Eachus until after the alleged incident.
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