Police Log: Dog Bites, DUI and Criminal Mischief at Philmont

July 20 – DUI

• Area of County Line Road & Somers Drive

Richard Ziegler Jr., 58, of Philadelphia, has criminal charges pending after police found him asleep at the wheel in Just-a-Farms. The key was in the on position and his headlights were illuminated when police found him.

Ziegler had very slurred speech and appeared confused when cops woke him up. He was removed from the car and was unsteady on his feet. He admitted to drinking at least three beers at a bar earlier in the night, and said he pulled over because he saw his engine oil light flash.

He registered a .21% BAC and failed field sobriety tests according to the report.

July 19 – Dog Bites

• 100 block of Steele Way

While walking her two Yorkshire Terriers, Susan Kaplan, 55, of Huntingdon Valley, she saw a medium sized white and brown dog running back and forth without a leash on its front lawn of its owners' home on Steele Way. The dog then ran aggressively towards Kaplan’s dogs. Kaplan was able to pick up the smaller of her two dogs, but the loose dog ran up and bit her larger dog multiple times before its owner, Barbara Serota, 59, of Huntingdon Valley, was able to control it and take it back inside the home.

Kaplan took her dog to an Animal Hospital, where it was discovered the Yorkshire Terrier had sustained broken ribs, neck muscle strain and abrasions on its hind legs. 

July 18 – DUI

• Area of Philmont Ave. & Huntingdon Pike

James Elliot, 57, of Glenside, has a DUI charge pending after a cop stopped him for running a red light on Huntingdon Pike. Upon stopping him, police smelled alcohol on his breath and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He failed to satisfactorily complete field sobriety tests and registered a .135% BAC.

July 18 – Criminal Mischief

• Philmont Country Club – 301 Tomlinson Road

The head groundskeeper at Philmont Country Club reported that someone “turfed” the fifth green and the sixth fairway of the north course by riding an off-road vehicle on the grass. It appeared that a dirtbike rode on the sixth fairway, spinning its rear wheel as it traveled uphill which tore grass and dirt from the fairway. On the fifth green, there was a deep gouge created by the dirt bike spinning its rear tire, accelerating from a stationary position. According to the report, it will cost approximately $500 to repair the damage.