A 57-year-old former West Goshen Township police officer is sitting in a Chester County jail cell on $100,000 bail, accused of strangling a person and then driving while impaired. Michael Meredith now faces charges including strangulation, simple assault and DUI stemming from an incident that unfolded Nov. 8.
According to court documents cited by NBC10 Philadelphia, a person called police that day and reported that Meredith struck them in the face. The same person told investigators Meredith then climbed on top of them and applied pressure to their neck, court records state.
Pennsylvania law defines strangulation as knowingly or intentionally impeding someone’s breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat or neck, or blocking the nose and mouth. The statute also says physical injury is not required to establish the offense. Strangulation is generally graded as a second-degree misdemeanor, but the law provides for a second-degree felony when the offense is committed against a family or household member. The charge’s grading in Meredith’s case is not established here.
Authorities say Meredith later drove while impaired, according to the court documents. Responding officers reported smelling an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from Meredith and found him sitting in the driver’s seat of a car, per the police report obtained in the case. The precise location of the incident was not disclosed in the records reviewed.
Department Confirms He Once Wore the Badge
The Chester County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday that Meredith was a member of the West Goshen Township Police Department. A spokesperson for the office, however, would not say when Meredith left the department, leaving a gap in the public timeline of his departure from law enforcement.
Court records listed no attorney for Meredith as of the report. Police department and township officials did not respond to requests for comment on the case, the outlet’s report notes.
Pennsylvania law requires police departments to keep records of an officer’s separation, including its circumstances, as well as records of criminal charges and certain complaints. But those separation records are not generally open to public inspection: the state’s Act 57 database is for law-enforcement agencies, and its records are exempt from disclosure under the Right-to-Know Law. Departments must submit separation records to the state commission within 15 days, while prospective police employers must review them before hiring an applicant.
What Comes Next
Meredith remained jailed on $100,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 20. That hearing will determine whether the case proceeds toward trial, though no further details on the court process were available at this time.
