MATAMORAS, PA – A Port Jervis man who was placed in a drug treatment program last summer rather than sentenced to prison, was taken into custody again this week with new charges against him.
Customers who had stopped for ice cream at the Polar Bear in Matamoras, PA on Wednesday evening witnessed a bizarre series of actions, beginning at about 8 p.m., which led to this man’s current charges.
According to police, this week’s incident involving 29-year-old Christopher Cox of Port Jervis began with Cox tearing his shirt and shoes off as he crossed the ice cream shop’s Pennsylvania Avenue parking lot in sight of customers. He then proceeded to climb a tree at the rear of the property before descending and running from responding Eastern Pike Regional Police Department officers.
Eastern Pike officers, with assistance from nearby the Port Jervis Police Department, quickly located and apprehended Cox in a residential neighborhood several blocks away.
Eastern Pike Chief Chad Stewart said not knowing what substance Cox had ingested, he was transported by ambulance to Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis for evaluation.
Charges have been filed in Pennsylvania for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and are pending a court date.
Cox was found to also have a current active warrant out of Sussex, NJ; not his first.
A news release from PJPD last year shows Cox, then 27, as also having fled from police in the early morning hours of June 10, 2021. At that time, officers had been on Pike Street attempting to place Cox under arrest on an open warrant issued by Frankfort Municipal Court, NJ.
That warrant charged Cox as being a fugitive from justice for the felony offense of conspiracy to distribute more than one-half ounce but less than five ounces of heroin.
That 2021 chase resulted in Cox being taken into custody after a brief struggle on the Matamoras/Port Jervis Mid-Delaware Bridge. and recovery of 112 packets of heroin and a quantity of crack cocaine. This led to additional charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, and felony possession of narcotics with intent to sell. Cox was at that time remanded to Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail pending further court appearances.
Jerome Neidhardt, assistant prosecutor with the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office, told Mid-Hudson News he was not yet aware of the Wednesday evening incident involving Cox. However, at the time, a drug recovery option was chosen through the court several months ago despite the opposition by his office.
“This was over state’s objection. We thought Christopher Cox should go to prison as he would be a danger to the community if he was put on probation,” Neidhardt said. “A couple of weeks ago he violated his probation and left the drug treatment program. A bench warrant was issued.”
