Cops: Prisoner Tries to Pee on Officers, Damages Police Station

For the second time in several months, Bristol Township authorities are dealing with a messy situation caused by a disorderly prisoner.

According to court papers, a prisoner – identified as Michael McCarthy, 31, of Morrisville – was in a holding cell upstairs at the their police headquarters when he began urinating through the cell block bars in an attempt to wet officers before dawn on Monday. The urine on the floor reportedly caused a slipping hazard for police.

From there, McCarthy used his clothes to stuff a toilet, causing water to overflow the cell, police said. Water began to spill through the police station and down into a computer room filled with workstations, court papers say.

A police community service officer witnessed the incident, police said.

McCarthy was also disorderly, according to police, and was tasered when he refused to cooperate when police attempted to take his mugshot.

A number of computers and the ceiling below the holding cell were damaged, Lt. Terry Hughes told LevittownNow.com. Early estimates put the damage between $1,000 to $5,000.

The cell was the same one used when 29-year-old Matthew Gulick allegedly became aggravated following his arrest and clogged the same toilet in August, Hughes said. The water in that incident damaged carpeting, lighting fixtures, ceiling tiles and other items in the police station. Gulick plead guilty in fall. He is jailed and will pay for the damage, court records say.

Hughes said the police department is working on a fix to make sure similar incidents will  not happen in the future.

McCarthy, who was in police custody for public drunkenness, is charged with aggravated harassment by a prisoner, institutional vandalism, resisting arrest and obstructing the administration of law. He was arraigned before District Judge Joanne Kline Monday at 9 a.m. and sent to county jail on 10 percent of $30,000 bail.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.