A New Florence man accused of injuring a Westmoreland County deputy sheriff when he was arrested earlier this month had his court hearing continued until Jan. 7 because the deputy sheriff is recovering from “serious bodily injuries” he allegedly sustained during a fight with the suspect, a prosecutor said Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramataro told Ligonier District Judge Denise Snyder Thiel on Friday that Deputy Sheriff Irvin Shipley was “medically unavailable to testify” in the preliminary hearing of Raymond A. Shetler, 37. Ciaramataro assured Thiel that Shipley would be available to testify in a few weeks.

Defense attorney Louis Korber objected to the continuance, saying the defense was ready to proceed with the hearing.

Ciaramataro declined to comment on the extent of Shipley’s injuries, citing privacy laws. Sheriff James Albert said when Shetler was arrested on Dec. 7 that Shipley suffered head and shoulder injuries during the fight.

Shetler is charged with aggravated assault and resisting for allegedly fighting with state police troopers and sheriff’s deputies when they were serving a bench warrant on Shetler for not appearing at a probation revocation hearing. Police and the sheriff’s deputies found Shetler hiding under a futon and blankets in a mobile home along Shrum Hill Road near Seward, police said.

During the fight, Shetler also was injured, sustaining broken bones and a fractured socket of his left eye.

Korber unsuccessfully argued for Thiel to reduce Shetler’s $250,000 cash bond on the grounds that he does not have that much money to be released from the Westmoreland County Prison.

If Shetler was able to be released on a lower bond, Korber said he could get “prompt, competent medical treatment” for a serious eye injury that he could not receive while an inmate.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Korber said.

“(I) never have,” Shetler added.

Shetler had been acquitted in Westmoreland County Court of homicide charges in 2018 in connection with the November 2015 shooting of Lloyd Reed, a St. Clair Township police officer, during a domestic dispute.

Korber had told Shetler prior to the proceedings that “the less you say, the better.”

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