Man charged with assaulting officer to stand trial

An Albrightsville man charged with the assault of a law enforcement officer is scheduled to appear in court.

Eric Pauloski, 37, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Wednesday before District Judge Eric Schrantz of Jim Thorpe, but instead chose to waive his right to the hearing.

In addition, Pauloski also faces charges of conspiracy, criminal use of a communication facility, fleeing or attempting to elude officer, two counts of simple assault, receiving stolen property, driving without light to avoid identification or arrest, reckless driving, failure to stop and give information and render aid, accident involving damage to unattended vehicle or property, stop signs and yield signs, operating vehicle without required financial responsibility, careless driving, and registration and certificate of title required.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Lee Marzen of the Jim Thorpe Police Department:

Marzen was assisting in a drug-related investigation when police noticed a suspicious Dodge vehicle in the area of the Jim Thorpe Police Station without the headlights on and driving at a high rate of speed.

While investigating and making contact with the driver of the vehicle on the 900 block of Center Street, the operator put the car in reverse and then drove forward and attempted to strike Marzen, and in the process, struck and hit a parked Toyota Corolla.

Marzen ran back to his patrol car and attempted to stop the vehicle using his lights and sirens.

The operator fled at an extremely high rate of speed, and Marzen noticed he failed to stop at six stop signs on Center Street.

At that point, Marzen lost contact with the vehicle.

Later that day, someone reached out to police and said that Pauloski was involved in fleeing from the police and wanted to know if he was in custody.

That individual had been arrested in a prior operation and had been cooperating with another drug investigation.

Due to their cooperation, the individual was located in an unsecured portion of the station, but remained handcuffed.

The individual had fled during this time period.

During the course of the subsequent operation which was handled on the street, back at the police station, the individual surreptitiously used a cellphone to contact Pauloski.

The individual arranged his assistance in the escape, and his arrival in front of the police department operating a personal vehicle.

Through the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the registration that was on Pauloski’s Dodge was a stolen state registration, as his vehicle was not registered and no insurance was provided.

Pauloski is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $200,000 monetary bail.

He is scheduled to appear for a pretrial status conference in the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas at 9 a.m. May 8.