Apr 14, 2015 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Waynesburg Borough police officer, whose resignation was accepted Monday night by borough council, was charged Tuesday with burglary, simple assault and public intoxication stemming from an incident late last year.

Asa Winters, 29, of Waynesburg, is accused of entering an apartment at 62 S. Richhill St. in the borough Dec. 31, highly intoxicated, and assaulting a man he believed was dating his ex-girlfriend.

According to the criminal complaint, Winters had the wrong man. He allegedly assaulted the intended target’s roommate. Winters was not on duty at the time.

Winters was arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Lou Dayich and released on $5,000 unsecured bond.

His attorney, Brian Gorman, said the charges had nothing to do with police work, but involved a personal issue.

“He’s charged with doing a bad thing, but he’s a good person,” Gorman said. “To the extent he has made any mistakes in his life, he’s owned up to them and taken steps to correct them, just as any good person would do.”

Gorman said he is hoping for an amicable resolution, though he added it is early in the process.

The case was initially investigated by Waynesburg police and state police, but later referred to the state Attorney General’s Office by District Attorney Marjorie Fox because of a personal conflict of interest with the defendant.

Winters is charged with assaulting Tanner Downing, 23, who lives at the South Richhill Street address with two others.

Downing told agents with the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation he came home from work about 12:30 a.m. and went to sleep. Neither of his roommates were home.

In the middle of the night, Downing said, he was awoken and found Winters and Alex Crown standing in his bedroom. Downing said he knew Crown from school and knew of Winters but had never met him.

Downing said Winters challenged him to a fight and accused him of having a relationship with his ex-girlfriend. One of his roommates dated Winters’ former girlfriend, Downing said, and he knew Winters mistakenly identified him for the roommate. Downing tried to talk Winters out of fighting and was attempting to walk the two men to the door when Winters threw a soda bottle at him and attacked him, according to court documents.

Winters struck him 10 to 12 times, Downing said, and during a pause in the fight, he tried to reason with Winters, telling him his former girlfriend is dating a man named Seth who lives down the street. Winters broke off the fight, saying he knew Seth and where he lives. The two men then left the residence. Crown, who was not charged, told agents he followed Winters into Downing’s apartment and after they left, he dropped Winters off at his residence.

Downing said within an hour of the assault, Winters appeared outside his house yelling for him to come out and fight. Downing called 911 and reported a drunken man was attempting to gain access to his back door. Winters eventually left and Downing went back to sleep.

The next morning when he saw injuries to his face, Downing called police. Downing suffered a bloody, swollen lip and bruises to his face and neck, although he did not seek medical treatment.

Winters’ resignation from the Waynesburg police department was accepted Monday. His last day on the force was March 18.

Police Chief Rob Toth could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Winters was hired as a part-time officer with the department in December 2010 and was made full-time in June 2013.

That year, Winters on his own initiative, obtained a female German shepherd which he eventually trained to be a police dog to aid in the department’s law enforcement efforts.