Syracuse, NY - Two Syracuse officers investigating a harassment complaint this morning were hit in the head with a bottle by the woman they were trying to arrest, Police Chief Frank Fowler said. The officers called for help, bringing a flood of police to the pink Queen Anne-style house at 222 McClennan Ave. They took Faith McCarthy, the alleged assailant,...
Syracuse, NY - Two Syracuse officers investigating a harassment complaint this morning were hit in the head with a bottle by the woman they were trying to arrest, Police Chief Frank Fowler said.
The officers called for help, bringing a flood of police to the pink Queen Anne-style house at 222 McClennan Ave.
They took Faith McCarthy, the alleged assailant, into custody.
The officers, whom Fowler did not identify, were taken by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital for evaluation and treatment. The officers, a man and a woman, both suffered blunt force trauma and the female officer also sustained a cut, Fowler said.
Fowler said police initially received a call about 6:11 a.m. from McCarthy's grandmother, Rosalin Hector, complaining that McCarthy was at her front door, trying to get into the house.
One of the officers who responded had previously prepared a court case against McCarthy in which Hector was the victim and was prepared to arrest her when he arrived at Hector's home, Fowler said.
McCarthy attacked the officers as they attempted to handcuff her, Fowler said. The male officer was struck once and the female officer was hit several times. They issued an officer in distress call and the backups who arrived helped them subdue McCarthy, Fowler said.
At least nine marked police cars and two crime scene van lined McClennan Avenue as police pursued the investigation, prompting some onlookers to complain that shootings don't receive such a response in the neighborhood.
"That's garbage," Fowler said. The department gives the same response to shootings and does "a fantastic job" solving them despite "limited response" from witnesses, he said.
Such a turnout is justified when an officer gets hurt, he said.
"When one of my officers gets injured I'm going to have everything that's moving and breathing with a badge to respond to the scene," Fowler said.