SUNBURY - Erick R. Trometter bowed his head and looked distraught after a jury convicted him Friday of multiple charges, including aggravated assault, for threatening Sunbury Police Chief Brad Hare with a large knife, prompting the officer to shoot him in the abdomen more than a year ago.
Trometter, 24, of Elizabethville, and formerly of Sunbury, offered no comment to the media upon being escorted from Courtroom No. 1 at Northumberland County Courthouse. The verdict followed a day-long trial that included testimony from the victim, the defendant and eight other witnesses.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated 75 minutes before returning a guilty verdict on two felony counts of aggravated assault and misdemeanors of possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. The charges were filed by Trooper Ronald Zanella, a criminal investigator with state police at Stonington.
Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor will sentence Trometter within 90 days.
During his closing argument, Trometter's attorney, James Best, of Sunbury, told the jury there was no criminal intent in his client's actions July 8, 2014, on Mile Post Road near Shikellamy Avenue in Upper Augusta Township, just outside the city limits.
The disturbance occurred as Hare and other police officers were searching for Trometter after receiving reports he had assaulted his then 67-year-old grandmother, Amanda Trometter, at their apartment at 618 Susquehanna Ave., Sunbury, earlier in the day.
On July 10, Trometter pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of simple assault in connection with the
assault of his grandmother. He was sentenced by Northumberland County Judge Tony Rosini to serve one to two years in state prison with credit for time served. A felony count of aggravated assault and a summary harassment charge were not prosecuted as part of a plea agreement.
Best claimed Trometter did not intend to harm or scare Hare by holding a knife and advancing toward him.
The defense attorney argued that Trometter was afraid of being sent back to jail and was irrational, confused, upset and angry when he walked toward Hare.
Best declined comment after the verdicts were read at 5:05 p.m. by the jury foreman on each charge, but admitted his client had serious mental health issues that need to be addressed.
Northumberland County District Attorney Ann Targonski told jurors the commonwealth met its burden of proof on all five charges. She said Trometter knew what was going on when he refused Hare's commands to drop the knife and kept coming toward him after three shots with a Taser failed to subdue him. She said Hare had no choice but to shoot Trometter.
"We are happy with the verdict of the jury," Targonski said. "A police officer shouldn't have to come that close to being harmed. Chief Hare took extra measures in an attempt to defuse the situation and placed himself in harm's way during the incident."
When asked for comment, Hare, who was acting chief at the time of the assault, stated, "I'm glad it's over."
Trometter's mother, Tammy Trometter, and his maternal grandmother, Roxie Stoneroad, who have supported the defendant by attending his multiple legal proceedings, also declined comment.
Trometter, who was on the witness stand for about 30 minutes, denied assaulting Amanda Trometter despite pleading guilty to assault last month, and claimed he never intended to harm, scare or intimidate Hare.
The Herndon native told the court he was raised by his paternal grandparents, Amanda and Robert Trometter, and he witnessed his grandfather shoot himself in 2011.
The defendant said he spent 23 months in county prison for another incident involving his grandmother and had a bad experience in jail.
As for the July 8, 2014, incident, Trometter said woke up at 618 Susquehanna Ave., looked around and didn't see his grandmother. Trometter said he then heard someone knocking on his door who claimed they were going to "send the dogs in" after him if he didn't come out.
The defendant said he got scared, ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and then fled out the back door. He told the court he had no idea who the people were who knocked on his door.
Trometter admitted to taking 100 milligrams of Zoloft, twice his prescribed dosage, on July 8, 2014. Zoloft is a drug used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic and anxiety disorders.
When asked by Best why he moved toward Hare with the knife, Trometter said, "Because I was scared of everything. He had a gun pointed at me and I wasn't going back to jail. He (Hare) never told me what he wanted."
Hare was the first witness Friday morning.
When he first encountered Trometter along Mile Post Road, Hare said the suspect falsely identified himself as Robert Hoffman, which happens to be the name of Hare's father-in-law, who passed away a short time before the incident.
Hare, who is a distant cousin of Trometter, said he asked the defendant what he was doing in the area. He said Trometter told him he was taking a walk. Hare, who informed Trometter that police were looking for a male with a similar description who had assaulted his grandmother earlier, said he later spotted a device with a wooden handle sticking out of Trometter's pocket that he initially thought was a tool, but turned out to be a large knife.
Hare said Trometter, who appeared nervous and frustrated, refused to comply with multiple commands and pointed the knife at the chief while aggressively advancing toward him, forcing him to retreat.
The chief said Trometter had his fists clinched during the altercation, was shaking and avoided eye contact with him. At one point, Hare claimed Trometter shoved him back with his elbow.
Hare said he eventually fired his gun because Hare kept coming toward him despite being tasered three times and ordered to drop the knife on multiple occasions. He said Trometter was about 10 feet away when he fired his weapon.
When Trometter was shot in the abdomen, he dropped to the ground and moaned, at which time Hare went over to the defendant and kicked the knife away.
Hare said police administered first aid to Trometter before he was transported by ambulance to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, where he remained for seven weeks because of his serious wound.
Zanella testified about his investigation.
Zanella said during an interview, Trometter told him he pulled the knife out on Hare because he didn't trust police. Zanella recalled Trometter telling him that he would rather die than go back to jail and he wasn't giving up the knife.
Sunbury Patrolman Scott Hause, who was the first backup officer to arrive at the scene and render first aid, said he observed Hare and Trometter standing on the road. Hause, who didn't witness the shooting, said he later handcuffed the defendant.
Sgt. Girard Hughes, who was assigned to the state police barracks at Stonington at the time of the incident, said he inspected the Taser used by Hare on Trometter. He said there were five Taser deployments over a 34-second period.
Hughes, who showed the jury how a Taser is operated, said the device is designed to temporarily incapacitate criminals.
Barbara Diehl, of Danville, said she was on her way to Sunbury with her two sons when she spotted an officer (Hare) holding a man (Trometter) against a police cruiser. She said Trometter broke away from Hare and had a knife, forcing the officer to use a Taser in an attempt to subdue him.
She testified that Hare shot Trometter after the Taser probes were unsuccessful. Diehl also identified a knife in court as the weapon Trometter used in the altercation.
Zachary Herbster and Mark Getz, employees in the City of Sunbury's Parks and Recreation Department who were traveling in a vehicle near the scene, testified that Trometter refused Hare's commands, prompting him to deploy his Taser.
Also testifying were Trooper Christina Fye and Cpl. Stephen Schmidt, of state police at Montoursville, who discussed their roles in the investigation.
Fye took photographs and processed the scene, which included inspecting Trometter's knife and Hare's Taser. Schmidt is a reconstructionist involved with incidents dealing with serious injury.