Bench Warrant Arrest May Keep Man From Mother's Funeral
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A man could miss his mother's funeral after he was taken into police custody Tuesday.
He was arrested on charges of outstanding warrants dating back several years -- even as far as the 1980s.
Police say they were only doing their jobs, following the law – what they're supposed to do when they find somebody named in a bench warrant.
But the family of Jerry Kohn believe the police went to far.
"It's very wrong," his wife Mary Kohn said. "How can you take a man, not only who's sick, but whose mother just died? How can you do that and call yourself human?"
She said she's in disbelief, after the death of her husband's 74-year-old mother.
The couple made their way back to Washington County from Donegal for the funeral.
But Tuesday, Canonsburg Police stopped the car they were driving and took them into custody.
Kohn is locked up in the Washington County Correctional Facility on warrants involving motor vehicle violations, including tampering with inspection stickers and license plates.
Mary Kohn says she believes police knew the couple was headed for Canonsburg as they made funeral arrangements.
But the police chief says they never had the couple under surveillance and they merely made a traffic stop.
Mary Kohn, though, does not buy it.
"What I would like to see happen is let my husband out of jail, let him go to his mother's burial, he's already lost his father," she said. "Let him go to put his mother to rest."
Kohn also says she's deeply worries because her husband is not getting the medicine he needs in jail.
Jerry Kohn has a hearing before a judge early Wednesday morning.
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