Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — A district judge cited a few words in the aggravated assault statute as he dismissed the felony charge against a 49-year-old man who allegedly pushed his 77-year-old mother.
Helen Swiatek testified Friday she underwent surgery that involved the insertion of three screws for a fractured hip and suffered a broken clavicle when Robert J. Swiatek Jr. shoved her inside their Main Road, Hunlock Township, residence Dec. 26.
Helen said she confronted her son in the bathroom about some type of drug odor when he shoved her, causing her to hit a wall and fall to the floor.
“I told him to get out, and all I saw after that was two hands,” Helen testified at her son’s preliminary hearing before District Judge James Haggerty. “I couldn’t get up; I was in agony.”
She testified she crawled to a bedroom to call her daughter on a cellphone. When there was no signal, she said her son threw a land-line telephone next to her on the floor.
Pictures of Helen’s injuries were provided by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Marsilio, showing bandages and large black-and-blue bruises on her shoulder and torso.
Helen said she won’t know until later this year if she will need hip replacement surgery. Prior to the alleged assault, she said she was active and going to the gym.
Robert Swiatek’s attorney, Girard Mecadon, argued the alleged incident did not warrant the felony aggravated assault charge, noting his client simply pushed his mother.
“Her words, she hit the wall and then fell,” Mecadon said. “He didn’t step on her when she was on the floor. I don’t believe the higher charge should remain.”
Marsilio said the son put both his hands on his mother and violently shoved her, causing her to hit the wall and fall to the floor.
“You have this 49-year-old man pushing his 77-year-old mother with such force,” Marsilio argued.
After a brief recess, Haggerty dismissed the felony count of aggravated assault, citing there was no “extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
Haggerty acknowledged that Helen suffered serious bodily injury by reckless conduct, two requirements in the aggravated assault statute, but found no evidence of the third requirement of extreme indifference.
Robert will now face a second-degree misdemeanor simple assault charge and a summary harassment count in county court.
Marsilio said he will take the ruling under advisement before deciding whether to refile the aggravated assault charge.
Haggerty modified Robert’s bail from $150,000 straight to 10 percent of $50,000, meaning he will have to pay $5,000 to be released.