A 63-year-old Hellertown man is accused of attacking another man with a hammer while that man was holding a 10-month-old child.
According to borough police and Northampton County court records, officers were called to the 1500 block of Brookstone Place on the evening of Nov. 29 for a report of a man having been struck in the head with a hammer and having had a gun pointed at his chest.
When an officer arrived at the scene, he said he learned that David Alan Corbett of Hellertown had allegedly struck his daughter’s boyfriend in the head with the blunt end of a hammer and then approached him with a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, telling him “I dare you to take this gun from me.”
According to the criminal complaint filed by Hellertown Police in District Court 03-2-04, the alleged hammer attack occurred while Corbett’s daughter and her boyfriend were engaged in an argument over a wine opener.
The arresting officer wrote in an affidavit of probable cause that he observed “severe bleeding and a large laceration to the back of (the victim’s) head…consistent with a mark of the blunt end of a hammer.” He said he also recovered a handgun and six bullets from underneath a sofa on which Corbett had been sitting, along with the hammer allegedly used in the attack.
Corbett is charged with aggravated assault (Felony 2), endangering the welfare of children (Felony 2), terroristic threats (Misdemeanor 1) and two counts of simple assault (Misdemeanor 3).
According to the docket filed in his case, following a Nov. 30 preliminary arraignment before District Judge Alicia Zito, Corbett was committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 straight bail. Two days later, his bail was changed by the court to 10 percent of $25,000, which was posted by a third party Dec. 2.
The docket did not list an attorney for Corbett, who is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing before Judge Zito Dec. 12.
Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using information provided by the Hellertown Police Department and Northampton County court records.