Police were summoned to the Park Street home for a disturbance Saturday morning.
EASTHAMPTON – Two police officers were injured Saturday morning as they attempted to subdue an out-of-control man at a Park Street home.
Police, summoned to the home shortly after 7:30 a.m., found the man standing on top of a car in the garage with a black cord attached to a rafter and tied around his neck, Sgt. Bruce Nicol said.
Officer Chad Alexander suffered a lacerated arm, which required 20 stitches to close, after he climbed onto the car in an effort to talk the man safely down, Nicol said. A struggle ensued and Alexander fell off the hood of the car and into a garage window, he said.
Officer Tammy Kaleta suffered a back injury when she joined the struggle. The suspect, 46-year-old James Wanat, was ultimately subdued with a blast of pepper spray from both officers, Nicol said.
Police were initially summoned to the home by the man’s brother who said he was “destroying the garage and throwing items around,” Nicol said.
Alexander and Kaleta, arriving on scene, saw that the garage door was heavily damaged and that miscellaneous tools had been scattered in the yard.
Wanat told the officers to “get lost” as they walked into the garage and saw him on top of the car, Nicol said.
Alexander initially got Wanat to calm down a bit and agree to remove the cord from around his neck. The suspect began struggling, however, when the two stepped down from car’s roof and onto its hood.
Wanat was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital for a mental health evaluation. Alexander and Kaleta were also taken there for treatment of their injuries.
Alexander will likely remain off-duty for another week or so while he recuperates, Nicol said. Kaleta will likely return to work after a shorter period of time, he said.
Wanat was charged with resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.
Two additional Easthampton officers, recently injured while responding to unrelated calls, also remain off-duty for medical reasons, Nicol said.
Two Holyoke police officers, meanwhile, remain out after suffering on-duty injuries when their cruiser was broad-sided by a motorist who ran a stop sign on Cabot Street early Friday. One officer suffered burns to his hands from the air bag and the other suffered broken bones in his shoulder.
The motorist, Robert Murchinson Jr., 21, of Tiffany Street in Springfield, was cited for running the stop sign, Holyoke Police Chief Anthony R. Scott said.
A third Holyoke officer suffered an injury to his ankle that same night, Scott said. He declined to name the injured officers.
Springfield police Officer Edwin Irizarry, meanwhile, suffered a fractured ankle early Sunday during a scuffle with an unruly suspect in the entertainment district.