Harrison Thorp 10:30 a.m.
Friday, July 7, 2017 10:31 am
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2017© ROCHESTER - Rochester Police got a pretty good bang for their buck on Wednesday when a Rochester man wanted on a bench warrant out of Carroll County was arrested after he tried to run from police interviewing him on a possible fireworks ordinance infraction.
According to Rochester Police Capt. Jason Thomas, the man, William A Whicher, 24, of 21 Maple St., Apt. 2, was setting off fireworks in the former Foster's Rochester bureau building parking lot on North Main Street around 11:20 p.m. when he was approached by a police officer.
"When the officer made contact, he admitted to setting them off," Thomas said. "He had a bag of them."
Whicher appeared intoxicated, and when the officer said he needed an ID for the summons, he gave a false name, Thomas said, adding, "He was also acting fidgety and had a wallet but wouldn't produce it."
When the officer reached for his handcuffs take him into custody, the suspect took off on foot, crossed the street and went behind the Michael Charles music building.
By this time a second officer had responded and gave chase as Whicher ran behind Lilac City Grille and Papaya Thai before turning left and heading up the hill toward the bridge.
At that point the additional responding officer was able to latch onto Whicher and take him to the ground.
Once in handcuffs he stopped resisting, Thomas noted.
Whicher was charged with a bench warrant on drug possession charges out of Carroll County as well as resisting arrest and false reporting to law enforcement.
He also got a summons for violating the city's fireworks ordinance, bringing to 17 the number of those cited and 77 for complaints called in by the public since a week ago.