Man Arrested After Entering Upper Darby Police Station With Loaded Gun And Threatening To Kill Cops
By Suzanne Monaghan, Oren Lieberman
UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) -- A Glenolden, Delaware County man is facing attempted murder charges after he entered the Upper Darby Police station early Saturday morning with a loaded gun demanding that his intoxicated girlfriend be released.
According to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood, it was just after midnight on Saturday when 23-year-old Kenneth Stewart walked into the police station lobby high on drugs. His girlfriend was arrested earlier for drunk and disorderly conduct and Stewart wanted her out.
Police asked Stewart to leave. He did, but then quickly returned with a loaded 9mm handgun and got into a fight with officers.
"He stormed out of the police station," said Chitwood. "And maybe 30 seconds later, he came back in still ranting and screaming and yelling and cursing."
Officer William Sides came out of the security room into the lobby and things quickly became violent. While the two were struggling on the floor, another officer, Michael Begany, came out to break things up.
"And as he did, he saw that Stewart had reached down in his waistband and pulled out a 9mm semi-automatic, said Chitwood."
Police said one of the bullets was accidently ejected from the chamber of the gun during the struggle, but no shots were fired.
The officers were able to wrestle the gun away from Stewart and put him in a cell. But that only made him angrier, said police.
"He was so out of control that he had to be tased," added Chitwood. "He was spitting blood at the officers, threatening to kill them."
Officers Sides and Begany were not seriously injured in the incident.
Saturday's crime wasn't Stewart's first run-in with the law. According to police, Stewart beat a man over the head with a stick on June 4, and on December 30, police said, he threatened someone with a gun.
"Stewart is a violent predator," Chitwood said. "He's a violent street thug."
At Playhouse Lanes in Drexel Hill, bartender Jimmy Fek got the first hint of trouble Friday night from Stewart. Fek said Stewart and his girlfriend spent two hours there, but did more fighting than bowling.
"They were fighting half the night," remembered Fek. "They only bowled a game."
He said he escorted Stewart out when Stewart swung at his girlfriend.
"I saw him swing his arm," said bartender Jimmy Fek. "I didn't see him hit her, but when I walked back inside, I saw her holding his face."
Police said Stewart likely got the gun from his girlfriend as a gift.
He was being held on $250,000 cash bail.
