A Saturday morning argument between two men turned violent after Haverhill Police say one man allegedly assaulted another for beeping his car horn too often, leaving the victim bleeding and swollen.
In court documents obtained by WHAV, Patrolman Kevin Billings was dispatched to Haverhill’s Briarwood Road just before 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 17 for a reported disturbance. According to the alleged victim Kenneth Sciarappa, he was getting ready to leave his home to get coffee while his daughter was sleeping. When he heard a car beeping outside for a long period of time, Sciarappa went outside and told the person—later identified as Jorge Plaza—to “Stop f—king beeping.”
Twenty-three-year-old Sciarappa told police he and Plaza exchanged words after Plaza got out of his car. Witnesses reported seeing Sciarappa return to his home and grab a baseball bat and “chase” Plaza into the street. Then, according to a police report, Plaza allegedly “grabbed Sciarappa’s neck with his right hand, squeezing it very tight and causing him not to be able to breathe.”
A female good Samaritan attempted to break up the fight, but went inside after seeing the Sciarappa allegedly chase Plaza with the bat.
When Officer Justin Graham spoke with Plaza, the 20-year-old refused to get off his cell phone and when Graham insisted, Plaza told the person on the other end to “Hold on, This b-tch a—n—ga cop is talking over you.” Initially refusing to provide identification to Graham, Plaza hurled additional expletives and off-color remarks to the team of officers there to assist with the arrest. Once handcuffed and put into a police cruiser, Plaza screamed, yelled and kicked the bars protecting the cruiser windows.
Appearing before First Justice Stephen Abany at arraignment this week, Plaza was held without bail on one count each of of strangulation, assault and battery, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license.
Haverhill Police requested that Sciarappa be summonsed to court to answer to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.