A Reading man was arraigned Monday on charges he used a sword to threaten two emergency workers who had been called to his house for a medical problem involving his girlfriend, authorities said.
Jose Nunez, 44, of the 600 block of North 11th Street was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime. He was freed on $10,000 bail after arraignment before District Judge Kim L. Bagenstose in Reading Central Court.
Nunez was arrested early Sunday and taken to Reading Hospital for treatment of a large cut on his face, investigators said.
Police gave this account:
The EMS workers, Mike Lerch and Robert Hiems, were called to Nunez’s home about 2:45 a.m. Sunday after reports that his girlfriend, Zorida Mendoza, was having trouble breathing.
They were tending to Mendoza when Nunez came downstairs covered in blood and wielding a sword.
He went toward Lerch and Hiems making slashing and stabbing motions with the sword. Lerch and Hiems tried to talk to Nunez and calm him down.
When he wouldn’t listen, they ran from the house and called police.
Police arrived and found Nunez with a cut on his face.
Nunez told them he had gotten into a fight with a relative.
