Falls Township police responded to some fireworks of a different kind just before midnight on the Fourth of July.
Officers were dispatched to the 600 block of Chatham Road in Fairless Hills for a report of violent domestic dispute in progress.
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Police said they arrived to find Scotte E. Ruth, 51, with minor bleeding coming from his head. He said he struck himself in the noggin with an empty rum bottle, police said. They added that he appeared intoxicated.
“The defendant’s only initial response when asked what occurred was… “I drank…I drank…I drank,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Ruth’s wife told police that she came home from a fireworks display with her adult daughter and grandchildren after she recieved several text messages from her husband. She said the texts were in regards to an affair from last year, according to police.
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Police said the text messages told the woman to die, that he was burning the house down and also included several messages of a “sexual nature.”
When Ruth’s wife went in to the home, she said he pulled her into his bedroom, spit in her face and pushed her down, police said.
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She managed to escape his bedroom and found her closet had been torn apart, police said, adding that he followed her and kept making unwanted sexual advances. According to court papers, he grabbed between her legs and chest.
He then slapped his wife in the face during the argument, she told police.
Police said the woman suffered red mark injuries to her face, chest, arm and foot.
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During a later interview, police said Ruth admitted to hitting his wife in the face.
The adult daughter is said to have witnessed the incident take place and called 9-1-1.
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Ruth was arraigned early Friday morning before Upper Bucks County District Judge Gary Gambardella on charges of simple assault and harassment.
The 51-year-old was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
