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Crime & Safety

Bloody Man Punches Cop in the Face, Police Say

A man who was bleeding from a swollen eye punched an officer in the face in attempt to resist arrest, police said.

A man who was bleeding from a swollen eye punched an officer in the face and attempted to resist arrest, Lower Southampton Township police said.

On Monday, Feb. 11 just before 1 a.m. police responded to a report of "an armed out of control male bleeding from the head," police said in an affidavit.

The man who was later identified as Joseph Franklin Neff, allegedly pulled a knife on a resident of Croftwood Apartment Complex, located at 400 East Street Rd. in Feasterville. 

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Officer Christian Tracy and Cpl. Raymond Young found Neff standing in the hallway of the apartment complex wearing long underwear and bleeding from the area of his right eye, reports said.

"Blood was running down his face, and he was sweating profusely," Tracy described in the affidavit.

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Neff, 24, of the 800 block of Trenton Road in Langhorne, was unable to answer basic questions posed by Tracy and Young, and began to walk away from them, the reports said. Young advised Neff to stop as he attempted to enter apartment No. 17.

Neff tuned to the officers "in an aggressive manner and was starting at me in a fasion that signaled to me that an assault on Police was imminent," Tracy wrote in the affidavit.

The man was advised to get on the ground, and complied at first, police said. However, he would not lay flat on the ground and as Young began to pull out his handcuffs and Tracy prepared to use his taser after calling for backup, Neff "quickly stood up, punched Cpl. Young in the face, and came at both of us," Tracy said.

Police told Neff repeatedly that he was under arrest and to stop resisting, but he continued to try to punch the officers while "wildly swinging at Police while attempting to tackle" them, police said in the affidavit.

Tracy said he tried to use a taser, but was unsuccessful, and Young had "gone hands on with Neff" after already deploying a taser, which was unsuccessful.

Tracy's taser had been knocked to the ground, and since Neff showed no sign of complying with him or Young, Tracy said he escalated to use of force with his police baton "fearing for officer safety."

"The strikes appeared to have no effect," Tracy said in the affidavit.

Police eventually knocked Neff to the ground as other officers arrived to the scene. He continued to resist and refused to submit to handcuffing with the assistance of four officers, according to police reports. At that time, Officer Brian Walter was able to successfully deploy a taser to the back of Neff, which forced him to comply and be handcuffed.

Paramedics responded to treat Neff's injuries and to remove the taser darts.

Neff was searched, according to the report, and a clear plastic bag with crystal white powder, suspected to be methamphetamine, was found in his pants.

Police spoke with the apartment residents who made the report. One resident said Neff showed up at his home uninvited about 15 minutes before police were dispatched, the affidavit said.

The resident said that after letting Neff inside he noticed that he was under the influence of something and was "grossly out of it." Neff was asked to leave, became aggressive, kicked the apartment door and came at the resident, who said he punched Neff in the face causing the injury to his right eye, the police report said. The resident was able to force Neff out of the apartment.

He reportedly disappeared and later returned out of apartment No. 23, where a resident and some friends called 911 and reported that Neff was armed with a knife. The knife was later reported to be a butter knife, the affidavit said, and was never recovered.

Neff was admitted for observation at St. Mary's Hospital where he received stitches for his eye, the report said. Officer Walter said that after Neff appeared to have come down from his level of intoxication he "had no memory as to what had transpired with police."

Officer Walter said that Neff told him he was under the influence of cocaine/methamphetamine and asked if the police were injured.

Neff is being charged with aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance, simple assault, resisting arrest and disorderly, according to information on Bucks County's inmate look up website.

He was arraigned in front of Judge Waltman and sent to Bucks County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.

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