(Credit: Michael Förtsch / Unsplash.com)
A 53-year-old transient has been charged with a second-degree felony of aggravated assault for allegedly hitting the Souderton Borough Police Chief in the head with a rock during a pursuit, in which a bola and a taser were used to apprehend him.
Timothy Jay Stover, no fixed address, was moved to Brook Glen Behavioral Health Hospital in Whitemarsh Township after he’d been at Montgomery County jail since July 8 in lieu of $1,000 cash bail, per court documents. A preliminary hearing was canceled for July 17 before Magisterial District Judge Adam T. Katzman.
What began with a call of a man fighting with a dumpster on June 18 at 11:34 a.m. ended with police tasering Stover in a treehouse, according to the criminal complaint.
Police received a 911 call about a man punching and kicking a dumpster, per the complaint. Upon arrival to the area of the unit block of West Broad Street in Souderton, police found the individual, identified later as Stover, walking down East Broad Street and refusing to talk to police, per the affidavit.
Stover began running in and out of traffic on Route 113, then crossed at Second Street and ran behind a house, police said. Police started a foot pursuit of Stover, who continued to run in and out of numerous properties and roadways, police said.
Police attempted to deploy a bola wrap, but the hooks did not go into Stover’s clothing, police said. Stover continued to South Front Street and past Love Obsessed, a retail store.
Stover grabbed an article of clothing that was on a rack for sale at the retail business, and then ran onto the train tracks behind the store and continued south, police said.
Police passed Stover and got ahead of him near Cherry Lane, meeting him on the tracks, per the complaint. When Stover saw police, he allegedly grabbed a rock from the tracks and climbed up a hill, police said. Then, he was in a residential neighborhood in the neighboring Franconia Township.
Officers from Franconia Township and Telford Borough police departments arrived to assist Souderton Police in the pursuit of Stover, police said.
Police followed Stover into a yard, where he climbed into an elevated treehouse via a small door on the bottom, police said.
One officer grabbed Stover’s left leg, as Souderton Borough Chief Brian A. Newhall grabbed the other leg, according to the complaint.
Then, Newhall was hit in the head with the rock by Stover, police said. Newhall asked for a taser and told Stover he would stun him if he did not comply. Stover, police alleged, responded with numerous kicks to Newhall’s upper left arm. Then, Newhall stunned him in the left leg, police said.
Officers pulled Stover down and out of the treehouse, where he resisted arrest, but eventually handcuffed, per the report.
Due to Stover’s prior alleged violent behavior with police officers and mental health issues, he was moved to treatment at Grand View Hospital, police said. On June 19, Stover was discharged and moved to Brook Glen, per the complaint, where he was seeking treatment.
Stover was eventually arraigned July 8 before Magisterial District Judge R. Emmett Madden, according to court records.
Stover is awaiting trial at the Montgomery County Common Pleas level on misdemeanor charges of defiant trespassing and disorderly conduct involving hazardous behavior, stemming from a June 2024 arrest in Lansdale Borough. He was free on $2,000 unsecured bail in that case.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
