Police charge woman with vandalism, public drunkenness

WEST CHESTER » An East Bradford woman is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Friday on charges that her drunken tirade caused damage to security equipment at the West Chester Police Department’s headquarters.

Kerry E. Felton, 26, is charged with institutional vandalism, a second-degree misdemeanor, as well as summary counts of harassment, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct, stemming from an incident that began at a borough restaurant and bar and continued inside the police lock-up facility at Borough Hall.

The complaint against Felton accuses her of destroying a security camera in the holding cell where she was brought after she allegedly scuffled with bar personnel at Barnaby’s of West Chester on South High Street. According to the complaint by Officer Thomas Flick, he was dispatched to Barnaby’s around 1:30 a.m. March 26 for the report of a disturbance. Once there, he saw a large group of people on the sidewalk outside the bar watching an altercation between the bar staff and a woman later identified as Felton, who was being restrained. Flick, after speaking with staff, told Felton that she would be arrested for assault, including kicking, striking, and biting one of the doormen. He wrote that she had a strong odor of alco-

hol on her breath, bloodshot eyes, and slurred speech.

When Flick took Felton to the police department, she refused to cooperate during the booking procedure and had to be restrained. When she was put in a holding cell, she stuck her foot in a toilet and began continually flushing it, causing it to flood and overflow. Flick said Felton then took a metal clasp off one of her boots and used to it scratch the lens of the video camera in her cell. He said the scratches were so deep the camera was no longer effective, and eventually had to be replaced at a cost of $1,004. Throughout her stay, the 5-foot-7, 135-pound woman continued to scream and yell and rattle the bars of the cell.

Felton had not processed the charges against her until the damages of the camera were determined. Charges were filed on April 27.