Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
Assault follows night of drug use
A North Tonawanda man was arrested by Niagara Falls police after he reportedly assaulted a woman following a night of partying, which included drug and alcohol use.
Jeffery W. Brown, 44, 2733 Stenzel Ave., North Tonawanda, was charged with third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment early Friday morning. The victim said she and Brown were at her Niagara Falls home and he had been smoking crack cocaine and drinking whiskey most of the night. The victim, who admitted to taking a hit of crack cocaine, claims she started to argue with Brown, at which point he pulled her hair, knocked her onto a bed, pinned her down and started choking her.
The victim said she was able to break free and pull an emergency cord, which alerted the Falls Fire Department that there was a medical emergency at the house.
• VANDALISM: An unknown person spray-painted the letters “GSN” in black paint on an exterior wall at the east side of Prince of Peace School, 1040 Cayuga Drive, sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning. A school maintenance worker estimated damage at $100.
• ARREST: Lavon D. Smith, 29, 177 Genessee St., Lockport, was charged with disorderly conduct at 1:20 p.m. Friday. He was a passenger inside a vehicle pulled over in the 4700 block of Niagara Falls Boulevard. While police interviewed the driver, Smith got out of the car and asked officers if he could walk away and go urinate because he had to go badly. Pointing out public urination is illegal, officers denied the request, at which point Smith got angry and began swearing at them.
• BURGLARY: A Grand Island man reported Friday that a house he owns in the 1500 block of Whitney Avenue was broken into sometime between Jan. 22 and Feb. 2. The burglar apparently entered by breaking a basement window and damaged the plumbing by cutting and removing copper pipes. Various tools were also taken. Loss and damage were estimated at $4,900.
• ARREST: Debra L. Payne, 51, 516 Seventh St., was charged with driving while intoxicated at 2:17 a.m. Friday. Officers pulled Payne over after she failed to signal a turn at 16th Street and Elmwood Avenue. Payne admitted to having several drinks at a nearby bar. She failed numerous field sobriety tests and later, at the police station, registered a blood alcohol content of 0.13.
