Cops: Falls Police Officer Assaulted Outside Shopping Center

Felony charges of aggravated assault are pending against a 46-year-old man with no fixed address after he allegedly attempted to assault a Falls police officer at the Oxford Valley Point Shopping Center Monday morning, according to a report from the Falls Police Department.

Officers were called to the shopping center at approximately 9:45 a.m. Monday after witnesses reported seeing a man screaming at the sky and shouting racial slurs, the report says.

Police approached the man and identified him as John Wentz, who was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant out of Chester County. When officers attempted to arrest Wentz, he allegedly lunged toward one of the officers and grabbed his gun belt and got his hands on the taser, police say.

It took four officers to get Wentz under control, the report says, but he held something in his hand. Police say that he had to be struck in the hand with a flashlight to force Wentz to open it, revealing a rock.

Police say that Wentz was transported to Lower Bucks Hospital for a mental health evaluation because he kept saying he wanted to die and that he wanted someone to kill him.

None of the officers were injured, and the defendant was not injured, police say.