Month: February 2022

PLYMOUTHTWP. — A Nanticoke man was charged on Saturday with two pursuits with state police in Wilkes-Barre, alleging that the final pursuit ended in the park.

According to court records, Joseph John Clark, 39, on East Main Street, first escaped from a soldier during a traffic outage on West End Road in Hanover Township, trying to escape from another stop about an hour later. Damaged three cruisers.

The chase and Clark’s arrest took place on Thursday.

According to the criminal accusation:

State police soldiers stopped Clark on West End Road at 3:23 pm. During the traffic outage, Clark confirmed that he was a Joseph Bus and gave him the wrong date of birth.

Clark refused to get out of his car and speeded up at high speeds that almost hit the trooper, complaints say.

Clark is said to have overtaken several cars while driving a berm on the road.

As Clark rushed away, state police learned of Clark’s cell phone number.

Trooper sent a text message to Clark using a different name, asking him to meet at Canal Street Park in West Nanti Cork, Plymouth Township.

Clark agreed to meet at 4 pm

When Clark drove a 1990 Dodge Ram pickup truck and pulled it into the park, he said, “This is a setup” when he observed a state police cruiser approaching him.

Clark complains that he tried to escape from the park when the soldiers performed some PIT operations to stop him.

After attempting to escape the maneuver for about two minutes, Clark abandoned the truck when it became invalid. According to the complaint, he was tackled after a 60-yard foot chase.

Complaints say a search warrant was executed on Clark’s truck and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol loaded with 10 bullets was found.

Clark told soldiers that his friend…

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Crews in Luzerne County have been battling blazes in the blistering cold. Responding to calls one after another, firefighters have had no time to catch their breath.

NANTICOKE, Pa. — Colder weather has meant more calls to the Nanticoke City Fire Department.

“The past couple weeks with the sub-zero freezing temperatures, there has been a noticeable increase in structure fires in the area,” said Dane Aukstakalnis, a Nanticoke firefighter.

The department’s eleven paid firefighters and numerous volunteers have been busy. Responding to nearly 30 fires across Luzerne County in just the last month and a half, they’ve been battling the cold as much as the flames.

“In Newport recently, three out of the four hydrants that were hit were frozen,” said Firefighter David Wojciechowicz. “So it’s always in the back of my mind if we’re going to a fire, knowing where the secondary hydrant is.”

They’re also looking out for their health. Their suits and extra layers only protect firefighters from the cold for a short time.

“You’re in a fire, then all of a sudden you come out, and you’re wet,” Aukstakalnis said. “The coats and everything being wet, they almost freeze instantly, but with the adrenaline going, you don’t always realize that it’s dropping your body temperature.”

Chief Mark Boncal said the cold means more warm-up breaks for his crew and a bigger need for backup.

“You get a guy that’s spent after two cylinders, and he comes out, we need to have extra manpower in place to replace him,” Boncal said.

But with fewer volunteers in Luzerne County and across the country, crews are finding themselves shorthanded.

“We had the fire down on Church Street, two o’clock in the afternoon. It was myself and the three other duty guys for the first ten minutes trying to suppress…

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