A Merrimack man was arrested on Sunday and charged with assaulting two police officers when he refused to leave a local restaurant.
Kurt Stromvall, 39, of 17 Waterville Drive, was charged with four Class A misdemeanors two counts of simple assault, one count of criminal trespass and a single count of resisting arrest following a scuffle with two police officers at about 7:45 p.m. Sunday night at the Jade Dragon Restaurant, police said.
Lt. Paul Trepaney, who is prosecuting the case, said Stromvall had been drinking beer, and “he was not the condition that he should be served anymore alcohol and the owner asked him to leave.”
After allegedly refusing the request, the restaurant owner, George Fang, called police asking to have Stromvall removed from the premises, said Trepaney.
“Officers encountered Stromvall in the bar area, where a private party was being held,” said Sgt. Denise Roy in a press release. “The officers asked Stromvall to leave the restaurant but he again refused.”
As the officers escorted Stromvall from the facility, he allegedly pushed officer Michael Marcotte away by shoving him in the chest, and then proceeded to take Roy in a headlock, said Trepaney.
“Sgt. Roy used pepper spray, but he was unresponsive. Some people can fight through that,” said Trepaney. “They were all down on the ground wrestling before they were able to subdue him and take him into custody.”
Trepaney said the incident only lasted a few minutes, and that everyone was fine and there were no injuries.
“Any time we have an intoxicated subject we can only restrain them and only use force when necessary, and you don’t want to stand toe-to-toe with somebody and trade punches,” said Trepaney. “With any circumstance we have two officers involved, and I don’t know if size was that much of an issue but more so an issue of trying to control that person and take them into custody without anybody getting hurt.”
Once Stromvall was under arrest, police found two prescription drugs on him one was a generic form of Prozac and the other helped to control the side effects of that drug, according to Trepaney. Stromvall had prescriptions for both drugs so no additional charges are expected.
Prior to 1990, Stromvall was convicted on two drug possession charges and one count of criminal mischief, said Trepaney.
Stromvall was initially held on $10,000 cash bail at Hillsborough County House of Corrections in Manchester, but following his arraignment on Monday, his bail was reduced to $7,500, according to a District Court clerk on Monday.
At this point, it is unknown whether or not Stromvall had taken his prescribed psychiatric medication before the alleged assaults took place, police said. If convicted on all four misdemeanor counts, each count could bring with it a one-year prison sentence and up to a $2,000 fine.
A psychiatric evaluation will be conducted by an agency out of Nashua, said Trepaney, and a competency hearing is scheduled for May 1.,