Police: Pearl River Man, 72, Arrested in a Second Drunken Incident in 10 Months

A 72-year-old Pearl River man who was indicted in December for breaking a police officer's nose in a June 2012 drunken incident in Pearl River was arrested during another drunken incident on West Central Avenue on Thursday, according to Orangetown Police.

In Thursday's 4:11 p.m. incident, police said Thomas Rowles of 69 Pilgrim Court, Pearl River, is accused of becoming combative with town officers and making threats against them.

Police were called to Murty's Publick House, 29 W. Central Ave., to investigate a report of a fight. When town officers arrived, police said, Rowles was highly intoxicated and was at the front door of the business. Police said a bartender and a patron were trying to remove Rowles from the bar because of unruly behavior.

The bartender told police that Rowles had to leave the bar, but refused to cooperate and threatened to start a fight and was being loud and abusive. Police said Rowles next became combative with police officers and fought with them as they tried to handcuff him.

In a June 15, 2012, incident outside a Central Avenue bar where he had been turned away because he was intoxicated, police said Rowles punched an Orangetown police officer in the face as the officer was trying to help him into a cab to take him home. The officer sustained a broken nose. A Rockland County grand jury in New City in December indicted Rowles on charges of assault and resisting arrest.

In Thursday's incident, Rowles was taken to Orangetown Police Headquarters in Orangeburg, where police said he continued to threaten police officers. Rowles was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

He was held overnight and released Friday on $250 bail pending a May hearing in Orangetown Town Court.