Wilkes-Barre Times Leader | By Edward Lewis
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – A Nanticoke man “blasted away” at a pursuing Wilkes-Barre police officer, emptying an 11-round clip and reloading near a friend’s house in Bear Creek Township, according to charges filed on Friday.
City police charged William Gronosky, 29, of Nanticoke, with shooting at the officer during a pursuit of a Ford Escort stolen during a home invasion on Church Street, Hanover Township, on March 25.
A city police officer pursued the vehicle in the early morning hours of March 26 from Kidder Street to Pittston Boulevard, where Gronosky called Courtney Sadusky, 24, and told her to listen for the sirens. When he neared her house, Gronosky slowed the vehicle and “blasted away” at the officer, according to the criminal complaint.
Gronosky allegedly reloaded the handgun and fired three to eight more rounds at the officer, who was not injured.
Gronosky was arraigned by District Judge Michael Dotzel in Wilkes-Barre Township on charges of assault of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, illegal possession of a firearm, fleeing or attempting to elude police and reckless endangerment. He was remanded to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $250,000 bail.
Gronosky has been jailed on a host of charges related to a home invasion in Hanover Township and for his role in an armed robbery at the Carousel Lounge adult club in Plymouth Township on March 15.
Police also charged his live-in girlfriend, Ashley Evans, 22, with giving Gronosky a ride after he abandoned the stolen Ford Focus near Thornhurst, Lackawanna County. Evans was charged with hindering apprehension and obstruction of justice and jailed at the county correctional facility for lack of $50,000 bail.
Evans is charged by state police at Wyoming with providing Gronosky a get-away car when he fled the area on April 13, when he allegedly fired two shots at a trooper who attempted to stop him near the Plymouth Township strip club.
Police allege Gronosky was talking to Evans during the pursuit and told her, “I’m gonna shoot it out,” before he called Sadusky. Evans listened to the 911 broadcast of the pursuit and shooting on a scanner, according to the criminal complaint.
After he was arraigned, Gronosky told reporters, “I didn’t do nothing.”
Gronosky was calm when he was escorted to the arraignment, a stark contrast from Wednesday when he erupted in a profanity-laced tirade at a preliminary hearing on charges he robbed the Carousel Lounge in Plymouth Township.
Read the full article
