An Allentown woman refused to allow officers with an arrest warrant to take her juvenile son into custody Tuesday morning at her home, police said in an arrest affidavit.
Bertha A. McKenzie, 43, of 1034 E. Tilghman St., threatened officers with a vacuum cleaner hose and an aluminum baseball bat, leading an officer to aim his gun at her before McKenzie's daughter wrestled the bat out her hands, police said.
Police charged McKenzie with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and obstructing administration of law. Her son was wanted on a charge of simple assault.
According to the affidavit:
School resource officer Suzanne Toth called McKenzie's home Monday and asked her to turn her son in to police. McKenzie refused and hung up on Toth. Toth called back and said an arrest warrant would be issued for McKenzie's son. His age and the name of the school were not given by police.
McKenzie said, ''You're not taking my son anywhere,'' ''You better not even try to put cuffs on my son because if you do you'd better bring enough cuffs for me, too, and bring the whole [police] force with you!'' Then she hung up.
City Detective Keith Morris called McKenzie. She again refused to turn over her son and, after calling Morris several profane names, hung up abruptly.
About 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Toth, Morris, officer Mark Hanna, Detective Daniel J. Gross Jr., and other police officers went to McKenzie's home to serve the warrant on her son. McKenzie answered the door and refused to turn over her son. She blocked the officers' path to a stairway and told her son to go upstairs, which he did.
McKenzie repeatedly told police they would not take her son or put handcuffs on him. She pointed at Toth and said, ''If any of you touch my son then you're [Toth] going to be the first one I punch in the face.'' McKenzie moved a glass table to clear space as if she were preparing for a fight with police.
They repeatedly tried to calm down McKenzie and explain her legal requirement to honor the warrant. But she kept up her aggressive posture and threatened violence against the police.
McKenzie walked into another room, dismantled a plastic vacuum hose and held a 3-foot section of it. She raised it as if she was going to hit the officers.
Then McKenzie picked up a 3-feet-long aluminum baseball bat, raised it up and threw down the hose. She took an aggressive posture with the bat.
Bertha McKenzie had a baseball bat
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Originally Posted by claddaghgirl
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