Tonawanda News — City of Tonawanda police say they were kicked and spat on in the 200 block of Gibson Street Monday evening while arresting a woman alleged to have choked a teenage girl.
Police were called around 8 p.m. by the 13-year-old girl’s mother, who complained that Shannon M. Majchrzak, 32, of Gibson Street, put her hands around the girl’s throat and “slammed her against the wall.”
“The neighbor called up and said that Shannon was over at her place and, in an attempt to discipline the daughter, started choking her,” City of Tonawanda Police Lt. Fredric Foels said.
A police report quotes the girl’s mother as saying the two “don’t always get along.”
The girl was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital after EMS crews noticed red marks on her neck and labored breathing.
“Obviously, it sounds like intoxication was a big factor in this,” Foels said. “The victim’s mother said (Majchrzak) was very intoxicated.”
For the choking incident, she was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment.
But after three officers responded to subdue the woman, she then kicked each in the leg and spat directly in a lieutenant’s face, according to police reports, before being handcuffed.
Foels said police used a submission hold called an arm bar on Majchrzak in order to place her in handcuffs.
For that she was additionally charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, obstructing government administration and a second count of second-degree harassment — all of which are misdemeanor charges.
“She was told she was under arrest based on the allegation of choking the neighbor’s daughter. As she was being placed under arrest she she pulled away from the officers and ended up kicking all three and spiting on them,” Foels said.
Foels said unfortunately many officers have been spat on in the course of making similar arrests, and that it is a particularly disturbing aspect of the job.
“Every police officer in Western New York has been,” he said. “It’s part of the job and we accept it, but when it happens, we’re not happy about it.”
At her arraignment Tuesday in Tonawanda City Court, Judge Joseph Cassata held Majchrzak in lieu of $5,000 bail.
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