LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) -
A Lancaster man has been jailed for assaulting an off-duty police officer after a pedestrian crash where several people had gathered for a roadside memorial.
Bronson Peffer, 23, punched Officer John Michener from behind and struck him several times in the face Thursday night while Michener was trying to help a man who was injured in the crash, according to Southern Lancaster County Regional police.
Michener was driving with his wife, mother and three children when he came upon a crowd of people gathered for the memorial near the intersection of New Danville Pike and Breneman Road in Pequea Township.
Members of the crowd were paying homage to a person recently killed in a crash and doing "burnouts" with a car, causing a large amount of smoke in the area, police said.
Michener slowed as he approached the crowd but struck 22-year-old Ross Novack, of Pine Grove, as Novack was standing on the roadway and videotaping the burnouts, police said.
When Michener was confronted by Peffer at his doorside, he related that he was an off-duty police officer certified in first-aid and that he wanted to help Novack. Peffer stepped aside and allowed Michener to get out of his vehicle, but then attacked him, police said.
Michener has numerous serious facial fractures that will keep him off-duty for about three months, police said.
Novack was listed in critical condition at a hospital.
Peffer was charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, harassment and public drunkenness and sent to Lancaster County Prison on $125,000 bail.
State police are investigating the crash involving Michener, who is a Southern Regional officer.
Police previously reported that a Pequea man, Ty Mowbray, died at the intersection July 12 after he crashed his motorcycle into the back of a van and was thrown into the path of an oncoming car.
Bronson Peffer
A photo of the "burnouts" provided to police. Courtesy: Southern Lancaster County Regional Police Department.
