Teenager sentenced for domestic assault

Tymber McLaughlin, 18, to serve probation for punching a friend and hitting her with a vacuum cleaner

NORRISTOWN >> An 18-year-old Lansdale woman has been sentenced to nearly a year of probation after admitting she punched her friend and hit her in the head with a vacuum cleaner last summer.

Tymber Leigh McLaughlin, who was residing on the 200 block of West Sixth Street at the time of the July 29 assault, pleaded guilty to four summary counts — two counts each of harassment and disorderly conduct — and was sentenced to 90 days of probation for each count, to be served consecutively, according to court records. One of the harassment counts was downgraded from a second-degree misdemeanor simple assault charge, records indicate.

McLaughlin was also ordered to complete 24 hours of community service, to seek domestic violence counseling, and to have no offensive contact with the victim in the case, court records state.

Lansdale cops responded to McLaughlin’s residence around 4:30 p.m. on July 29 for a reported domestic incident in progress and encountered the female victim, whose age was not

provided by police, who was crying and screaming and needed to be calmed down by officers, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The victim said she had asked McLaughlin to hand her a towel when McLaughlin “went off” on her without warning, starting an argument and then punching her in the face more than four times and striking her in the back of the head with a handheld vacuum cleaner, the affidavit states. McLaughlin also pushed the victim on the front porch of the home, causing her to fall.

Police said the victim had a bloody and swollen lip, as well as bruising, swelling and cuts on her ankle.

McLaughlin told cops she couldn’t remember how the fight started but said she “just snapped,” admitting that she started the fight and punched the victim in the face, records say.

According to court documents, McLaughlin also told police that it was “good that you guys came, because it would have gotten much worse,” and stated to someone else while standing in front of officers that “I’m going to kill her one day.”