Credit: Bristol Township Police
The Middletown man accused of freaking out and causing several thousand dollars in damage to the Bristol Township police station will be facing trial on charges of aggravated harassment by a prisoner and institutional vandalism.
Matthew Gulick,29, had his preliminary hearing before District Judge Joanne Kline on Tuesday. Kline raised his bail from 10 percent of $50,000 to 10 percent of $100,000 after she said he kept giving her “looks” and other gestures that distracted from the hearing.
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Arresting officer Charles Winik testified that Gulick was taken in by police during a car stop following a suspicious persons call in early July at Emilie and Bristol-Oxford Valley roads. Winik said Gulick was uncooperative during his arrest and claimed officers broke his wrist. Court papers show the 29-year-old was wanted by the sheriff’s office on warrants for multiple probation violations.
Gulick, according to Winik, told officers he was going to rehab and that his probation officer knew.
While on a lower level of the police station, a lawman felt water dripping from above him. Winik said he immediately rushed upstairs to the holding cells and discovered about two inches of water flooding the area.
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Winik wrote in an affidavit that he “could not enter the cell due to the large amount of water and the violent actions on Gulick.”
As police and a civilian employee stopped the flow of water, Gulick began attacking walls and lighting fixtures with his fists, according to court documents. He sucessfuly broke a costly in-cell light fixture. Police also said he tried to spit on staff.
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Gulick was transported by several patrol officers to Lower Bucks Hospital before being transported to the county jail in Doylestown.
Close to 10 officers responded to the station to assist.
Gulick remains in jail unable to post bail.
