May 23, 2016 2 min read

Waynesburg police said a noise complaint Sunday morning quickly escalated into an assault on two borough police officers.

Police officers Jorel Hanley and Marcus Simms responded to 284 E. Greene St. at 9 a.m. Sunday for a complaint about loud music. Police said resident Jesse Watson, 44, answered the door with a beer in his hand and, with slurred speech, argued with police about the music.

According to the criminal complaint, Watson agreed to turn down the music, but by 9:11 a.m., police received another call from neighbors saying he turned it up once police left.

When officers arrived the second time, Watson became “belligerent,” walked onto the front porch and started yelling at police and using “obscene language.”

The officers tried to arrest Watson, but he pulled away and allegedly grabbed Simms by the throat and Hanley by the shoulder, police said. Hanley sustained a laceration to his elbow as the officers wrestled Watson to the ground and placed him in handcuffs, police said.

Police said Watson threatened to fight them and beat them up if they would “take the cuffs off.”

At the jail, Watson took off his clothes and threatened to fight police again, allegedly saying “he would kill us and hope our families die and burn and us along with them,” the complaint said.

Watson was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, two counts of harassment, two counts of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.

Police said they found seven empty beer cans in Watson’s sink the morning of his arrest. He is being held at Greene County jail on $25,000 bond.

Watson was cited by police for multiple noise complaints, along with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct in separate incidents in the past year, according to court record.