Tamaqua man charged with pushing friend into coal pit
Richard George from Tamaqua is escorted into District Judge Stephen Bayer's office for his arraignment Monday afternoon. (Kevin Mingora/The Morning Call / April 28, 2008)
A man who on Friday night fell hundreds of feet into a strip mine pit in Coaldale was pushed by a friend with whom he had argued about what path to take, police say.
Nathan Bowman, 23, of Tamaqua, broke his collarbone and tailbone and suffered injuries to his wrist and ankle when he fell into the Springdale Pit, an inactive coal mine about 700 feet deep, 3,000 feet long and 1,500 feet wide, officials said.
Richard D. George, 23, of Tamaqua, was arraigned today before District Judge Stephen Bayer of Tamaqua on charges of aggravated assault, obstructing emergency service, recklessly endangering another person and criminal/defiant trespass.
George was sent to Schuylkill County Prison under $10,000 percentage bail.
Coaldale Police Chief Tim Delaney and Patrolman Todd Weiss said in an affidavit of probable cause filed today that they were called to the mine entrance at Third and Lehigh streets on Friday to meet with George concerning someone falling into the pit.
Police said George first told them a man had come running out of the mine area yelling that someone had fallen into the pit.
But police said that "on further questioning, his story just didn't add up."
After about an hour of questioning, George finally admitted that he and Bowman were walking to Summit Hill when Bowman fell into the pit. After further investigation, police said, they determined George and Bowman had gotten into an argument about which way they should go and George pushed Bowman into the pit.
George then gave police a written statement admitting to pushing Bowman into the pit, police said. State police used a helicopter, floodlights and thermal imaging to try to pinpoint Bowman's location in the pit, but could not find him in the darkness and called off the search at daybreak, authorities have said.
A short time later, an employee with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., which owns the Springdale Pit, and Coaldale police went back to the spot where Bowman was believed to have fallen and heard him yelling for help.
Two firefighters rappelled to Bowman's location and loaded him onto a basket, and then all three were painstakingly hoisted out.
-- Reporting by Chris Parker, The Morning Call