A Schuylkill County woman is in jail after police say she swung a cell phone at another woman, fracturing her eye socket, during an argument in a parking lot.
Veronica Riley, 45, of Saint Clair, is charged with aggravated assault, a first-degree felony, along with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Saint Clair police say they were called to the 300 block of Cherry St. shortly before midnight Aug. 15 for a reported assault. A second caller, a bystander, told dispatchers the victim needed an ambulance.
An officer who arrived found the victim outside and saw what he described as a “golf-ball-sized” lump on the left side of her face, below her eye.
The victim told police she had been outside when Riley’s son approached her and the two began talking. A few minutes into the conversation, the boy received a phone call from Riley asking where he was and telling him she wanted him to come home, the victim said. The boy’s father then came across the parking lot and yelled for the boy to come home.
When the boy’s father reached the victim, he began verbally attacking her, calling her “gimpy” and saying, “You’re so lonely you have to talk to a 14-year-old boy, my kid,” the victim told police.
Riley then walked across the parking lot holding up her cell phone and attempting to record the argument, police say. As Riley approached while filming, the victim looked at the phone, extended her arms, shook her hands and said, “Oooo,” in what police described as an attempt to taunt the camera.
Riley then swung her cell phone and struck the victim in the face with it, then quickly backed away, police say. She told police she sent the boy’s father over to get their son and then heard him and the victim arguing. She went over and tried to record the incident, but told police her phone was not recording, police say.
When she approached, Riley said, the victim turned around and the two were face-to-face and exchanged words.
“She put her hand on me and that’s when I went CLUCK,” Riley told police, motioning her arm as if she were swinging a cell phone.
“The minute I did that, only once, I didn’t go hand for hand … I just clocked her,” Riley said.
The victim was taken by Schuylkill EMS to Lehigh Valley Hospital-East for treatment.
An officer followed up with her the next afternoon, and she provided an after-visit summary from the hospital showing she had been diagnosed with a closed fracture of the orbital wall as a result of the assault, police say. She was scheduled to follow up with LVPG Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery about the injury.
Riley was arraigned Aug. 18 before Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli, who set bail at 10% of $15,000. She was remanded to Schuylkill County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1.
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