Assaults, DUI top crime reports in August in Southwestern Berks County

by Steve Reinbrecht

Police reported 46 crimes in Southwestern Berks in August, including four murders, in which a man shot his wife, three children and himself in Sinking Spring.

Tied at the top of the list of summertime crimes were seven assaults and seven driving-under-the-influence busts. Next were six thefts, five reports of fraud, and four disorderly conduct reports.

Sinking Spring had the most trouble, though it has only about 20 percent of the population of the four municipalities I cover in this blog – Sinking Spring, Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Wernersville. [You can see, and sort, my data on the "police" page.]

On Aug. 22, a man living at the state corrections half-way house near Wernersville robbed the M&T Bank at 4830 Penn Ave., near Redner’s, about 2 p.m.

A week later, a man tried to rob somebody with a knife about 10 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Dream Garden Chinese restaurant, 3564 Penn Ave., near the former Food Lion grocery store. 

Police arrested a homeless man in Reading in the crime, Sinking Spring Chief Lee Schweyer said.

Sinking Spring police went to the 100 block of Woodrow Avenue seven times in August, for assaults, a theft, drunkenness, disorderly conduct and DUI.

Schweyer said police are called to the Railroad House, a restaurant and bar at 152 Woodrow Ave., but “not a lot.”

Any place that serves alcohol, especially with a young crowd like the Railroad House attracts, can have problems when people drink too much, Schweyer said.

Along with the horror of the deaths of the family, Sinking Spring sustained its first fatal fire in more than 25 years when Maira Bazan, 24, died after she jumped from a third-story window of the burning building in which she lived at 3996 Penn Ave. early on Aug. 22.

You can search for information about local crimes at the state police Uniform Crime Reporting website. Over years of reporting, people have told me the statistics can’t be trusted because police chiefs adjust the numbers to make crime look better or worse than it really is.

Any reporting is subject to bias. By making the information public, people can check what they know with the official version.