By DAN CROWLEY
Managing Editor
NORTHAMPTON – Police on Wednesday morning arrested a 21-year-old man whom they described as a disorderly panhandler who was yelling at people on Main Street while carrying a knife in a sheath on his belt.
Tyler Julius pleaded not guilty in Northampton District Court later in the day to charges of disorderly conduct and carrying a dangerous weapon. He was released on $500 bail and is due back in court Oct. 19. Police listed Julius’ address as the streets of Northampton.
Police were dispatched to the area in front of Faces at 175 Main St. after receiving two separate calls about a verbal altercation between two men at around 10:30 a.m., according to a police report. Once at the scene, police oberserved Julius “yelling loudly” at people sitting down outside the store. According to the report by Northampton Patrol Officer Andrew S. Carney, one man told police, “Be careful he’s been yelling for over 20 minutes and he has a knife.”
The report states that police had been dispatched earlier in the morning to a disturbance involving Julius outside Thornes Marketplace across the street.
Carney’s report states that when told to stop yelling, “Julius turned towards both officers and began flailing his hands in a tumultuous manner, causing even his fellow panhandlers to ask him to stop while simultaneously yelling ‘No!’ Julius began yelling at (an officer), ‘No, I’m not stopping,’ repeatedly.”
“His behavior was causing a clear public annoyance,” Carney wrote. “…it was determined his behavior rose to the level of disorderly.”
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.