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WILKES-BARRE — City police on Thursday charged John Lewis Derhammer with assaulting two women and threatening one of them with a knife before he initiated a pursuit that ended in a crash.
Derhammer, 47, was first charged late Saturday after he was captured by a city police canine running from his Chevrolet Cobalt he wrecked during a pursuit that began on the South Street Bridge in Wilkes-Barre and ended in the area of Old Newport and Center streets in Newport Township.
Police in court records say Derhammer illegally passed several vehicles and turned off his vehicle’s headlights to avoid detection during the pursuit.
Police were responding to Derhammer’s apartment on Park Avenue for a domestic disturbance when he was spotted in the area of the South Street Bridge.
In court records filed Thursday, police said Derhammer showed up at the apartment demanding a coffee pot.
When a woman opened the front door to give him the pot, Derhammer grabbed her and threw her down stairs, court records say.
Derhammer allegedly entered the apartment and approached the second woman throwing her across a room and over a love seat.
She reported Derhammer smashed a coffee table and retrieved a knife he used to slice cushions on the love seat and a couch. She told police she believed Derhammer was going to stab her, court records say.
Police added charges of burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and two counts each of simple assault and harassment against Derhammer. He was previously charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police, terroristic threats, resisting arrest, harassment, driving under the influence and several traffic offenses.
Derhammer remains jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $105,000 total bail.