Monday evening, at 7:40pm, a Schuylkill Haven Police Officer stopped a vehicle driven by Stacy Roberts, Port Carbon, for pulling out of a stop sign directly in front of the officer at Parkway and Union Streets. Also in the vehicle was Jessie Wolfe, 30, of Blue Mountain Heights, Schuylkill Haven.
During the traffic stop, the officer was informed that Wolfe was wanted in Berks County. The officer then approached the vehicle and asked Wolfe to exit the vehicle, but he resisted, locking the door and closing the passenger side window. He then instructed Roberts to attempt to drive away.
A passing motorist, Joe Peters, who in the press release, they described as "courageous", saw the officer struggling to control the situation and intervened by parking their truck directly in front of the suspect vehicle.
Wolfe then pushed Roberts out of the vehicle and escaped on the driver's side, where he led the officer on a foot pursuit.
Multiple residents witnessed the pursuit and led the officer to W. Columbia Street where Wolfe was found about 30 minutes later.
Wolfe was incarcerated at the Schuylkill County Prison on the Berks County Warrant. He will be arraigned at a later date on the charges related to Monday's incident. He was arraigned Tuesday on another set of charges from a incident where he led the Schuylkill Haven Police Department on a high speed chase on May 24th. District Judge James Ferrier, Orwigsburg, set a straight bail of $10,000 for the previous incident.
Roberts was also taken into custody with charges to be filed at a later date.
We asked Police Chief Jeff J. Walcott about the borough's citzen's assisting during the traffic stop and pursuit.
This town is like no other. The citizen assistance has been unbelievable on many occasions including this one. We were receiving multiple calls from residents who were giving us sightings which enable to pin point a location and flood the area with patrol officers. I can't thank our citizens enough. One in particular was Schuylkill Gun Works owner Joe Peters who observed the initial vehicle stop and immediately stepped up to the plate and blocked the offending vehicle with his personal vehicle. He then watched the female driver which permitted our officer to continue with the foot pursuit of the fleeing suspect. Our assisting officers happened to be on the range when the chase started. One of our part-time officers who is a full time officer in Berks county, commented that he could not believe how many people (Haven citizens) were out assisting with the apprehension.