A man charged with assaulting a woman in October in Pittsburgh was arrested Monday night in New Kensington after being accused of assaulting a child outside a bar.
New Kensington police Chief Bob Deringer confirmed that Burnell Johnson, 26, was the person arrested after a SWAT unit was called to a home in the 1100 block of Taylor Avenue.
New Kensington police charged Johnson with misdemeanor offenses of simple assault, resisting arrest and obstruction. He was arraigned before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. and being held in the Westmoreland County Jail on $75,000 bail.
Officers went to the house shortly after 7 p.m. after receiving a report of a possible domestic incident involving a gun.
A woman told officers that Johnson got into a fight at Valley’s Bar on Seventh Street, during which he smashed a bottle and cut his hand, according to a criminal complaint. The woman told police Johnson had tried to “choke out” a 12-year-old, who she could not identify, police said.
She told police that, as she was taking Johnson out of the bar, he exposed himself to a group of children in front of the bar, the complaint said.
As the woman was driving Johnson to Taylor Avenue, she said, Johnson punched her in the face, got out of the vehicle and ran into the house, according to the complaint. She said a babysitter and an unspecified number of children were inside with him, and that he was likely armed with a handgun, police said.
As New Kensington officers were calling to Johnson to come out of the home, they learned he was wanted on assault charges from Pittsburgh.
While waiting for the Westmoreland County SWAT team to arrive, officers learned the babysitter and children were no longer inside the house, police said.
After more than a dozen attempts to get Johnson to come out of the home, flash bangs were used twice, the complaint states.
Johnson came out through the front door and surrendered at 10 p.m.
His preliminary hearing before Pallone is scheduled for Jan. 16.
Pittsburgh charges
Pittsburgh police charged Johnson with felony aggravated assault, strangulation and theft after a violent domestic incident Oct. 19 on Wyoming Street in the city’s Mt. Washington neighborhood.
According to court records in that case, a woman said Johnson fled after beating her.
The woman, who police said they found running in the street hysterical, told officers she and Johnson got into an argument that quickly turned violent, according to a criminal complaint.
Johnson threw her around, tried to stab her with a knife, choked her to the point she could not breathe and began to lose consciousness, and bit her multiple times, the complaint states.
Police said Johnson grabbed the woman’s handgun, pistol-whipped her in the face with it and fled before officers arrived.
The woman suffered swelling and scrapes to her face and neck and had two large bite marks to her left arm and the left side of her back, according to the complaint.
She was taken to UPMC Mercy hospital for treatment.
