SCRANTON — Police quickly apprehended a man who ran into nearby woods during an investigation of a domestic dispute at the Hilltop Manor Apartments in South Side on Sunday.
The incident started around 11 a.m. at an apartment on Herbert Street, where the man initially spoke to police during their investigation.
“He stopped talking to us and decided to run,” Scranton Police Sgt. Anthony Shields said at the scene.
The man, who gave police a false name, ran about a block away into a wooded area between Saginaw Street and the Connell Park Little League Fields. Police established a perimeter of the small patch of woods and searched it by foot, drone and K-9 unit. By 11:49 a.m., police found and apprehended the man in the woods and lifted a ‘code red’ alert. Taking the now-handcuffed suspect into custody, they walked him out of the woods to police vehicles on Saginaw Street.
A criminal complaint filed Monday identified the defendant as city resident Kristopher Yoel Viera Garcia, 24 of 529 Wheeler Ave.
Police charged him with two misdemeanors: flight to avoid apprehension, trial or punishment; and providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
According to the complaint:
Police responded to 848 Herbert St. for a third-party report of a domestic disturbance and spoke with resident Katie Strong and a man outside of the apartment. Strong said she and her boyfriend had a verbal argument. She tried to leave and he grabbed her and dragged her back inside. She said he did not live there and wanted him to leave.
The man identified himself to police as Christopher Sanchez, age 25, and specifically stated his name was spelled with a ‘Ch.’ Police found no matching record of this identity. Strong said his last name was Garcia and he was 25, but did not know his date of birth, and again police found no match of that name.
Garcia said he had no identification on him and was calm as he gathered his belongings to leave. An officer called for a mobile fingerprint reader to be brought to the scene and that’s when Garcia ran out of the front door. The two responding officers chased him but lost sight of him when he ran into nearby woods.
Police established a perimeter of the woods, conducted the search and found Garcia hiding under brush. He was apprehended without incident. He had a wallet containing his identification and a check of records showed multiple outstanding arrest warrants from Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, and he was on probation in Lackawanna County.
After a preliminary arraignment Sunday night, Garcia was unable to post bail of $25,000 and was held in the Lackawanna County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 17 before Magisterial District Judge George Seig.
Court records indicate Viera Garcia previously was sentenced in Luzerne County in June of 2024 to 18 months of probation on a charge of flight to avoid apprehension in February of 2024; and he was issued a summons in February of 2024 for a retail theft in Plains Township. He also previously was charged with a misdemeanor simple assault in Scranton in January of 2025.
Scranton police apprehended a man, in black T-shirt, who ran into nearby woods during an investigation of a domestic dispute at the Hilltop Manor Apartments in South Side late Sunday morning, June 7, 2026. The man, whose name was not immediately available, fled into nearby woods while talking to police officers around 11 a.m. Police searched the wooded area by foot, drone and K-9 unit and found and apprehended the man in less than an hour. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton police apprehended a man, in black T-shirt, who ran into nearby woods during an investigation of a domestic dispute at the Hilltop Manor Apartments in South Side late Sunday morning, June 7, 2026. The man, whose name was not immediately available, fled into nearby woods while talking to police officers around 11 a.m. Police searched the wooded area by foot, drone and K-9 unit and found and apprehended the man in less than an hour. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton police apprehended a man, seated on the rear of the police wagon van, who ran into nearby woods during an investigation of a domestic dispute at the Hilltop Manor Apartments in South Side late Sunday morning, June 7, 2026. The man, whose name was not immediately available, fled into nearby woods while talking to police officers around 11 a.m. Police searched the wooded area by foot, drone and K-9 unit and found and apprehended the man in less than an hour. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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Scranton police apprehended a man, in black T-shirt, who ran into nearby woods during an investigation of a domestic dispute at the Hilltop Manor Apartments in South Side late Sunday morning, June 7, 2026. The man, whose name was not immediately available, fled into nearby woods while talking to police officers around 11 a.m. Police searched the wooded area by foot, drone and K-9 unit and found and apprehended the man in less than an hour. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)