BERWICK, Pa. -- In Berwick, it has been a brutal two days for police.
First, a vicious assault on Tuesday. Then Thursday, a check on a stopped vehicle led to gunfire and a chase.
The suspect in that police chase was just arrested Thursday night.
38-year-old Frank Snyder was brought in to a magistrate's office in Berwick to face a slew of charges, including aggravated assault, fleeing police, and recklessly endangering another person.
Troopers say it started on East 15th Street around noon Thursday. Officers in Berwick say they tried to take Snyder into custody for several active warrants, but instead, Snyder drove off and hit an officer with his vehicle. Berwick police shot at Snyder, but he kept going.
Jamie Troup says it all happened so fast.
“They came out of the alleyway at a pretty high rate of speed, so I knew it was something serious there, you know?” Troup of Berwick said.
Bob Morgan lives a few houses down from where police began shooting at Snyder.
“Scary! You've got two kids to raise, you got grandkids coming over, and this stuff happens. Nobody wants this in their neighborhood,” Morgan said.
Eventually, authorities caught up with Snyder in Salem Township, which is just over the Luzerne County line. He was taken into custody and was treated for a gunshot wound to the arm.
Two days prior and just two blocks from where that police chase began, police were busy investigating another crime in Berwick.
They say 51-year-old Geraldine Carson was bound to her bed and beaten to the point where her face was unrecognizable. She was found tied up with electrical wire and rope and is in critical condition on Thursday night.
Police here in Berwick say there were no signs of forced entry here at Geraldine Carson’s trailer along East 13th Street. People who know her say they were horrified to find out she had been assaulted.
“She didn't deserve this stuff that happened to her,” Wally Hartman said.
“She was a nice person. She was very kind and caring. She would help anybody,” Shawn George of Berwick said.
No arrests have been made in connection to the assault, but police do have persons of interest, and add the public is not in danger.
State troopers tell Newswatch 16, the officer who was struck by Snyder’s vehicle is doing okay Thursday night.