Summit Hill man charged with assault, threats

A Summit Hill man is facing multiple charges following a domestic incident that occurred on Wednesday.

Borough police said at 1:14 a.m. officers were dispatched to a residence along East Fell Street. A 14-year-old girl called 911 to report her father was assaulting his mother and threatening to kill her. On scene officers were let into the residence by the teen. Officers could hear the defendant, identified as Thomas Joseph Willis, 36, upstairs yelling. The victim told police that Willis told her, “you’re going to get hurt bad,” then threatened to kill her, grabbed her face, poked her in the face multiple times with his fingers, choked her neck with his hands and dragged her to the floor. While Willis was choking her, she said she began to lose consciousness. She said she feared for her life.

While being taken into custody, Willis refused to comply with commands, police said, and swung his right hand/arm toward the officer’s head. He then picked up a flower pot filled with soil from the porch and threw it at the officer’s head. Willis then fled on foot into nearby woods. He was later located and taken into custody.

He was charged with aggravated assault, strangulation, terroristic threats, simple assault, resisting arrest and harassment.

Willis is currently an inmate in the county prison in Nesquehoning.