Daisytown man jailed on charges of arson and trying to disarm state trooper
DAISYTOWN – A Daisytown man was in custody on charges including arson after he tried to disarm a state trooper during a domestic violence incident Wednesday, court records allege.
District Judge Eric Glenn Porter sent the suspect, Leonard D. Watkins, 56, to Washington County jail on $250,000 bond following the disturbance that morning at his home at 60 Main St., court records show.
Police were sent to Daisytown about 9 a.m. after his daughter fled from the home she shared with her father during an argument about money, police stated in the affidavit.
She told police her father pushed her down a flight of stairs after he kicked her out as she attempted to get her belongings from the home in the Crescent Heights section of West Pike Run Township.
She also accused her father of trying to burn down the house after threatening to do so while she and a child were inside, the affidavit claims.
Watkins also was accused of throwing some of her belongings, including toys and technology equipment, out of a second-floor window.
The victim said she tried to stop him, but he threw her to the floor, police said in charging documents.
Troopers found him hiding in a pickup truck and he was trying to prevent one of them from apprehending him by holding onto the steering wheel.
Watkins then struck Trooper Jacob Roberts in the face, causing a three-inch scratch to his face.
Police also accused him of grabbing and pulling on an AR-15 the trooper carried, and grabbing his pistol in an attempt to disarm him, court records allege. He also had a 6-inch buck knife in his possession, police said.
He also was charged with aggravated assault, disarming a police officer, flight, making terroristic threats, making or selling an offensive weapon, simple assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, harassment and disorderly conduct.