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Justin Miles Bookwalter of Huntingdon is accused of placing "the Corrections Officer in a headlock, while in the headlock the Corrections Officer was unable to breathe," the Middlesex Township police stated in the release.
This incident happened at Cumberland County Prison on March 27, 2024.
This is Bookwalter's third county prison stay since Oct. 31, 2023. He was previously in Huntingdon County Prison and then released on his own recognizance on Dec. 20, 2023. On Feb. 14, 2024, he was rearrested and placed in the Centre County Prison, after he failed to show up for his Feb. 12 court date, records show. It is unclear when his confinement in the Cumberland County Prison began.
The active case in Huntingdon that initially put him behind bars involved Harassment and Terroristic Threats, according to one of his more recent court docket.
Bookwalter has a lengthy criminal record serving probation for assault twice and fighting, as well as a few months in prison for another assault, driving under the influence of a Schedule 1 drug, and a felony for endangering the welfare of children.
For the incident in the Cumberland County Prison, he has been charged with the following:
- Felony Aggravated Assault - Attempts to cause or causes bodily injury to designated individuals.
- Misdemeanor Strangulation - Applying Pressure to Throat or Neck.
- Misdemeanor Simple Assault.
- Summary Harassment - Subject Other to Physical Contact.
His preliminary hearing for this prison assault is set before Judge David J. Rogers at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, according to his latest court docket.
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