On the afternoon of May 7, the borough manager of Jersey Shore saw April Ann Howell shoveling mud out of a ditch that was on borough property in the 400 block of Thompson Street. He told her three times to leave, but she refused so Lycoming Regional police were called and responded to the scene. When an officer told the 24-year-old woman to leave, she refused and started yelling obscenities, it was stated in a police affidavit. “She was told to watch her language” because there was a nearby daycare center, police said. “I don’t (expletive) have to. It’s freedom of speech,” she told the officer, who then told Howell that she was under arrest for disorderly conduct.

When the officer started to place handcuffs on her, Howell began “kicking him multiple times in the upper thigh,” it was alleged in the court document. The officer was forced to take Howell, of 217 Smith St., apartment C, Jersey Shore, to the ground, police said. Two additional officers responded to the scene, and once they arrived, it was alleged that she kicked them as well. Once in custody, Howell was arraigned before District Judge Denise Dieter on three counts of aggravated assault and one count each of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. Unable to post $20,000 bail, Howell was committed to the county prison, where she spent two weeks before being released. She has since waived her preliminary hearing.