Former Johnstown man was attempting suicide when he attacked cop, lawyer says

A man who tried to disarm a police officer as he was being discharged from a Greensburg hospital did so in an attempt to end his own life, his lawyer said.

“My client grabbed the pistol to have the officer shoot him. He wanted to commit suicide by officer because of the depression he was suffering,” defense attorney Brian Aston said.

Cory J. Lonsinger was facing a return to jail when the incident happened last year.

“I just did two to four years in prison before this and I already lost my family before I came home so I was in a downward spiral since then,” Lonsinger told a Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to assaults against two police officers and related counts of trespassing and resisting arrest.

Lonsinger, 32, formerly of Johnstown, was suffering from depression and other mental disorders, according to Aston.

Prosecutors say Lonsinger attempted to disarm police during a chaotic scene near the emergency room at Excela Hospital on May 5, 2022, as an officer unlocked handcuffs from a bed rail just moments after Lonsinger was discharged to be taken back to jail.

The incident prompted a brief lockdown at the hospital, where Lonsinger was being treated for a foot injury he sustained while burglarizing two homes hours in South Greensburg and running from police, authorities said.

Lonsinger forced open a front window of a home on Poplar Street and, as he attempted to evade capture, jumped through the window of another house on Elm Street, according to court records. As he was being detained by police, he punched South Greensburg Police Chief Bryan Painter in the face, prosecutors said.

Lonsinger pleaded guilty aggravated assault, disarming a law enforcement official and resisting arrest in connection with the incident at the hospital. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, resisting arrest and two counts of trespassing related to the break-ins and altercation with the police chief. Burglary charges were dismissed.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani sentenced Lonsinger to serve three to six years in prison and an additional two years on probation.

“Hopefully, when you get out, you will have things under control and be a normal member of society,” Feliciani said.

Lonsinger has a long criminal history dating back to 2011, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in 2020 to the robbery of a Latrobe gas station and served a two- to four-year prison sentence. In that case, police said Lonsinger wore a hooded sweatshirt, gloves and a black bandana when he threatened a clerk at the Lloyd Avenue BP gas station on March 8, 2019, and stole $179.