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Westmoreland Co. Constable Charged In Domestic Dispute

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A man elected to be a constable in Westmoreland County is charged with beating his girlfriend.

Police were called to a home in the 700 block of Hulton Road around 2:42 a.m. on Aug. 1, for a domestic abuse report. When police arrived on the scene, officers discovered the woman on the front porch, battered and bruised.

"Some scratches, dislocated finger," Allegheny Township Police Chief John Fontaine said. "She had some facial injuries to her nose which required a trip to the emergency room."

Inside the home, police found the man accused of the assault: 60-year-old Kenneth Thompson, who blamed the victim for her injuries.

"He's alleging they were self-inflicted on her part," Fontaine said.

As he was cuffed, Thompson told officers something else.

"He identified himself as a constable," Fontaine said.

"I have seen constables do things that… I shudder," Pennsylvania State Constable Robert Freeman said.

Freeman has been a state constable for decades and said Thompson may have been elected to constable, but may not be certified by the state. And in fact, state records show Thompson has never undergone formal certification. Thompson, however, still has the constable badge.

"We have, in the past, taken badges off of somebody in this county," Freeman said.

But that can only come at the behest of the chief and judge in the county.

Thompson has been charged with aggravated assault.

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