SHAMOKIN - Misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering and disorderly conduct have been filed against a 33-year-old Shamokin man who stabbed himself several times in the abdomen with a knife and threatened to jump off a third-story roof at his home early Sunday morning.
Patrolman Shane Mowery filed the charges Wednesday against Joseph S. Spagnolo, of 817 N. Sixth St., at the office of Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III.
According to an affidavit, police were dispatched to Spagnolo's home at 12:53 a.m. Sunday for a male stabbing himself with a knife. When officers approached the residence, they discovered the front door was locked. Officers then heard a female screaming from inside the home through an open front window.
The female, who was later identified as Spagnolo's girlfriend, Maria Hill, allowed the officers inside the home.
Hill told police Spagnolo was on the second floor stabbing himself with a knife and that there were two small children sleeping in a second-floor bedroom.
When police approached the stairs, they discovered Spagnolo standing at the top of the steps holding a knife. Police said Spagnolo was bleeding from the abdomen from self-inflicted stab wounds.
Officers repeatedly ordered Spagnolo to drop the knife, but he refused and told them that the only way he was leaving the house was in a body bag.
While speaking with Spagnolo, police said he began stabbing himself in the abdomen and the throat. Spagnolo then stepped around a corner inside the home, out of sight of police. Officers said Spagnolo could be heard running through the upstairs section of the home.
Police started walking up the steps and retrieved two small children from a bedroom and escorted them out of the home, while other officers continued searching the residence for Spagnolo.
Officers outside the home then spotted Spagnolo on the third-floor roof, threatening to jump. On numerous occasions, Spagnolo ran across the rooftops of his home and adjoining houses.
Police reported Spagnolo eventually climbed down from the third floor roof onto a second-story rear roof, which is approximately 30 to 40 feet high. Police were able to make verbal contact with Spagnolo through an attic window and spoke with him for 1 1/2 to two hours in an attempt to persuade him to drop the knife and come back inside the home.
But Spagnolo continued to state that he wanted to die and he was going to jump off the roof. From time to time, Spagnolo would stand up and walk toward the edge of the roof while threatening to jump, police said.
Eventually, Spagnolo dropped the knife and crawled back inside the residence, where he was treated by emergency medical personnel and transported to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for treatment and evaluation.
A spokeswoman at Geisinger said Spagnolo was in fair condition Wednesday afternoon.
During the incident, police spoke with Hill about what caused her boyfriend to become suicidal. Hill said she and Spagnolo, who have been a couple for approximately five months, were involved in an argument just before she called 911. Hill said she told Spagnolo that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him, at which time Spagnolo picked up a knife and started stabbing himself in the abdomen. Hill said she then picked up her cell phone and called for police.
While speaking with a Northumberland County Communications Center dispatcher, Hill said Spagnolo knocked the phone out of her hand, causing it to become inoperable.