GREENE – A man who was wanted on felony charges allegedly fought with Broome County Sheriff’s deputies during his arrest and then two hours later, tried to escape from the Greene Police Station, prompting the lone officer on duty to tackle the 6-foot-5, 260-pound man in the parking lot.
Earlier this week, Greene Police Chief Steven J. Dutcher released a statement detailing the incident, which occurred Feb. 1.
The man who allegedly fled from police was John A. Garbade, 28, of Binghamton. He was originally charged with three E class felonies, second degree escape, third degree criminal mischief, fourth degree grand larceny and a violation, second degree harassment, over the incident.
District Attorney Joseph McBride said the case was not presented to the grand jury because the alleged victim involved in the original complaint, Garbade’s mother, did not want to cooperate with a felony level case.
“It’s going back down to local court but the case is still open; the victim in the complaint preferred it. We don’t always do what the victims want in a case, but in this instance we did,” said McBride.
Garbade’s Public Defender Lisa Natoli said her client is now receiving family support and that was the main factor in bringing the case back to Village of Greene Court instead of being presenting it to the grand jury. All of Garbade’s charges were reduced to misdemeanor level offenses, explained Natoli, but she couldn’t recall the current charges.
Dutcher said his department was investigating an incident in which more than $1,000 in jewelry was stolen from the alleged victim. He said the items were pawned in Binghamton by Garbade, who was later confronted by his mother in a domestic incident.
“There was a confrontation over the theft and she threatened to call police. He responded by smashing her cell phone and taking off with a friend towards Binghamton in a vehicle,” said Dutcher.
Dutcher said the phone was valued at over $250 and the stolen items exceeded $1,000, prompting two felony-level charges. The Greene PD issued an alert to area law enforcement for Garbade’s arrest and he was encountered by Broome County Sheriff deputies at the county line along State Highway 12.
“He was the passenger in the vehicle and fled from Broome deputies after they pulled the vehicle over. After a short pursuit, he was apprehended at the scene and turned over to the Greene Police,” said Dutcher.
Dutcher said Garbade cooperated with him for nearly two hours while he worked to process paper work at the Village of Greene Police Station.
“I had to unhandcuff him to fingerprint him and after the fingerprinting was complete, he was placed in the office and took off from there – running through the front door, across the parking lot, before I had a chance to place the cuffs back on him,” said Dutcher.
Dutcher said he was the only officer on duty at the station and was forced to pursue the man into the parking lot.
“I basically tackled him in the parking lot and held him there until two state troopers arrived to help escort him back into the office,” said Dutcher, who added that he suffered a minor hand injury in the struggle.
The troopers also aided Dutcher in escorting Garbade to the Town of Oxford Court, where he was arraigned and remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility on $20,000 cash bail.
He is expected to return to Village of Greene Court March 11 to answer to the misdemeanor charges.