Local

Officer resigns, charged with beating after drunken burglary

WAYNESBURG, Pa. — A Waynesburg police officer has resigned and been charged with drunkenly breaking into an apartment and beating a man the officer thought was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Asa Winters, 29, resigned as a Waynesburg officer Monday night and was charged Tuesday with burglary, simple assault and public drunkenness.

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The state attorney general is prosecuting because the incident on Dec. 31 took place in the Greene County borough where Winters worked.

Prosecutors say Winters mistakenly beat up the wrong man -- the roommate of the man he sought after breaking into a home on Richhill Street.

Defense attorney Brian Gorman didn't deny the charges, but says Winters is a "good man" who made mistakes not related to his police job.

Gorman is hoping for an "amicable resolution" to the charges and says Winters has "owned up" and "taken steps to correct" his mistakes.N

ews of Winters’ arrest came as a shock to Waynesburg Borough Council President Charles Berryhill who has known him since birth.

Berryhill told Channel 11 News that Winters was a stand-up officer who spent his own money to buy Waynesburg K-9 Officer Izzy.

“Asa went out on his own, paid a lot of his own money to buy Izzy and train it to be a police dog,” Berryhill said.

Attempts to reach Winters for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful, but Berryhill said the alleged assault was completely out of character.

“One of his goals, I know, was to be a career officer here at Waynesburg,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.