December 15
The pillow toss
Officers Christopher Gallagher and Scott Fanjoy were sent to a Bluffs Drive residence for a report of a 911 call that sounded “really heated,” according to Fanjoy's report.
When the officers arrived, a woman was standing at the front door, Fanjoy wrote. She said that Terri L. Gazaway Bernart, 50, of Concord, had her massage table and would not give it back.
“At this time,” Fanjoy wrote, “Gazaway answered the door in her normal heated manner by yelling and screaming at us (police officers). Gazaway then directed her screaming at Officer Gallagher while he was trying to calmly talk to her.”
Gallagher politely asked Gazaway if she had the woman's massage table, Fanjoy wrote, and Gazaway yelled that she did but the woman is not getting it back.
“Officer Gallagher stated she needed to give the table back . . . or she could be arrested,” Fanjoy wrote. “Gazaway then locked the storm door and went back into her apartment.”
While she was inside, Fanjoy wrote, she began to scream.
“Moments later,” Fanjoy wrote, “we could see Gazaway getting what appeared to be the table.” Gallagher was at the door watching Gazaway, Fanjoy wrote, while Fanjoy ran the other woman's name through dispatch.
“Just as soon as I went to call (the woman's) name in, Gazaway opened the door and threw a massage table pillow at me,” Fanjoy wrote. “The pillow then struck me in the right leg and I placed Gazaway under arrest for simple assault.”
“While arresting Gazaway,” Fanjoy wrote, “she complained about everything, from handcuffing to getting into the cruiser.”
She was charged with simple assault, and her bail was set at $2,000 personal recognizance. She is due in court on Jan. 15.
December 16
A knock on the door
At about 11:30 a.m., Officer Wade Brown was sent to a Green Street address for a domestic assault. According to his report, a woman there said her ex-boyfriend, the father of her two children, had just left after assaulting her. She said she was at home with her niece when Eric Allan Luba, 29, of Concord called her cell phone and asked to come see her, Brown wrote. She said she told him not to come over, and about 30 seconds later she heard a knock at the door, Brown wrote.
She didn't see anyone through the peephole, she said, so she opened the door and saw Luba, Brown wrote. She said Luba opened the door and walked in, even though she told him repeatedly to leave, Brown wrote. She said Luba then hit her near her left eye with his right hand, and that she again told him to leave and that she was calling 911, while holding her cell phone in her right hand, Brown wrote. Luba then grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed until she dropped the cell phone to the floor, she told Brown, and he left the apartment. She then called 911, she told Brown.
She had visible swelling and redness near her left eye, Brown wrote, and two small bruises on her right wrist.
While she was talking to Brown, he wrote, her cell phone rang, and it was Luba. Brown answered the phone and spoke to him, he wrote; Luba said he was at his mother's house, and he denied that anything had happened and said he would wait for Brown there. Officers Jason Wimpey and Laura Spaulding then went to the residence and “apprehended Luba without incident,” Brown wrote.
Luba was taken to the police station and advised of his Miranda Rights, Brown wrote, and signed a Miranda waver and said he wanted to tell the officers his side of the story.
Luba admitted he went to the apartment, Brown wrote, but he said it was to take her shopping and that she let him in without incident. Once inside, he said, he began to argue with her, saying she'd been out with another man, Brown wrote. He said he never touched her, Brown wrote.
Luba was charged with criminal trespass, simple assault and obstructing report of a crime or injury. His bail was set at $15,000 cash, and he was taken to the county jail. He was due in court the next morning.
December 21
Not cooperating
At about 10 p.m., Officer Timothy King was heading north on South Main Street when he saw a white pickup truck leave the Beijing Tokyo restaurant. According to his report, the truck left the parking lot and headed out onto the street without stopping or yielding, and the truck was going so fast that the driver lost control on South Main and fishtailed once into the southbound lane, crossing three lanes of traffic.
The truck fishtailed back, King wrote, then headed up Concord Street. Other vehicles were on the road, King wrote.
Then, King wrote, the truck turned left on South State without stopping at the stop sign.
“At this time I tried to close the distance on the vehicle,” King wrote. “I activated my emergency lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle turned west onto Monroe Street. Once on Monroe Street I noted the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. I was unable to close the distance . . . but noted the two vehicles ahead of the truck yielding to my emergency lights (Rumford School area). The truck then took a right turn onto South Street without stopping for the posted stop sign at that intersection.”
King stopped at the stop sign, he wrote, and as he came around the corner of the intersection he saw the truck in a driveway with its taillights still on.
King recognized the address as belonging to Bruce Michael Armstrong, 50, he wrote. “I had dealt with Armstrong on other police matters,” King wrote.
King pulled his cruiser up behind the truck and got out, he wrote. Armstrong was moving quickly up the porch stairs, King wrote. “I yelled to Armstrong calling him by name: 'Bruce, stop right there,' and 'Bruce, don't go in the house.' Armstrong looked back at me and hurried to the door. As I closed the distance between Armstrong and myself I could see him trying to unlock the house door. I reached out and grabbed Armstrong by the arm and told him he was under arrest. Armstrong opened the door and darted into the house, pulling me with him.”
Armstrong began struggling with King, he wrote. Armstrong began yelling, “You can't come in my house,” King wrote. After a lengthy struggle, Armstrong was handcuffed and brought under control, King wrote.
Armstrong was escorted to King's cruiser with help from Officer Wade Brown, King wrote. “When I was escorting Armstrong to my cruiser I could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his mouth as he spoke,” King wrote. “When we arrived, I opened the rear door and was overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol.”
In the booking cell, King wrote, Armstrong asked what his charges were. “I listed Armstrong's charges and told him possibly DWI,” King wrote. “Armstrong became very agitated, challenging my authority to arrest him. Armstrong told me he wanted me to call his attorney. I told Armstrong that I was not going to call his attorney, that he would have to do that himself after we completed some paperwork.”
King began to read Armstrong his Administrative License Suspension rights, he wrote. “Armstrong was now interrupting me and extremely agitated,” King wrote. “I stopped and explained to Armstrong that he was very familiar with the process (booking and ALS) and that he needed to listen to me read and explain the form. Armstrong refused to be quiet.”
Armstrong refused to cooperate throughout the process. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving after revocation or suspension, disobeying an officer, resisting arrest or detention, stop sign violation and negligent driving. Bail was set at $10,000 cash, and he was taken to the county jail. He was due in court the next day.
