Police: Man dragged child, threatened woman

An Allentown man faces charges after police saw him dragging his child into the roadway during an argument with his estranged wife.

Mark Azar, 35, of North Graham Street, faces charges of simple assault, endangering the welfare of children, terroristic threats, criminal mischief, public drunkenness, harassment and persistent disorderly conduct after events that unfolded on Sunday in Nesquehoning.

According to the affidavit filed by Nesquehoning police officer Timothy Wuttke, at 4:15 p.m., officers were dispatched to the unit block of East Catawissa Street for a domestic dispute involving a 3-year-old child being dragged by his arm by his father.

When officers arrived, they saw the man, later identified as Azar, moving around a vehicle, in which a woman was locked inside, and picking up an object and throwing it at the windshield.

Azar was yelling and screaming and when confronted by police, would not calm down.

He was handcuffed but then began kicking boxes on the porch of the residence.

Officers also smelled alcohol on Azar’s breath.

Witness said they saw Azar dragging the child around the vehicle and then hitting the car and breaking the vehicle mirror.

Azar then took the child into the middle of Catawissa Street and left the child in the middle of the road. He returned to the vehicle and again started beating the windshield with the mirror he had torn off.

Police spoke with the victim, who said that Azar was at her home when she arrived home and that they are married but separated.

When she left with one of their three children to go shopping, she said she began getting harassing and threatening phone calls from Azar. When she came home, she could tell he had been drinking.

When she tried to secure their children in the vehicle, that was when Azar grabbed her by the shirt and hair and threatened to beat her. She then locked herself inside the vehicle as Azar tried to get in.

Azar was arraigned before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek of Lansford and sent to Carbon County Correctional Facility after being unable to post bail, which had been set at $3,000.