By Paul Peirce
Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Penn Hills man awaiting trial for a fatal shooting in New Kensington was charged Friday in an attack on two guards at the Westmoreland County Prison.
Daquane D. Faulk, 23, was arraigned before Hempfield District Judge Mark Mansour on charges of aggravated assault, assault by a prisoner, simple assault and institutional vandalism in connection with the Aug. 17 incident in the county lockup.
On Wednesday, District Judge Frank Pallone ordered Faulk to stand trial for first-degree murder and a firearms offense for the June shooting death of 25-year-old Todd Rogers Bell.
Pallone ejected Faulk from his preliminary hearing on the murder charge, which was moved to the county courthouse because of security issues, after the defendant repeatedly interrupted the proceeding.
In connection with the jail assaults, as several prisoners picked up packages that August morning, multiple witnesses reported Faulk “coming up behind corrections officer Seth Kristoff and sucker-punching him in the head area,” county Detective James Williams wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Faulk repeatedly punched Kristoff and then began striking corrections officer Joseph Sibal about his head and face when he attempted to intercede, Williams reported.
Eventually, Kristoff and Sibal subdued Faulk until other corrections officers arrived, the affidavit stated.
Kristoff suffered a neck injury along with facial and scalp contusions, while Sibal suffered facial and scalp contusions, Williams reported. Both guards required medical treatment.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Jordan Jackson, 26, of Arnold testified that Faulk and Bell had argued about a woman that had rejected Faulk’s advances earlier that evening at an Arnold apartment. The pair continued arguing when they went to New Kensington, Jackson said, and began wrestling in Moss Alley when shots were fired, he said.
Bell was shot twice, police said.
Faulk remains in the county prison without bond. A preliminary hearing on the assault charges is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 2.