The owner of the embattled Prospect Street Cafe in Nanticoke is once again in trouble with the law — this time charged with beating his girlfriend in a drunken rage and then nailing his office door shut and threatening to shoot police.
Paul Halliday, 38, of 237 W. Ridge St., Nanticoke, is charged with simple assault, making terroristic threats, tampering with evidence, possessing a controlled substance, harassment, public drunkenness and two counts of disorderly conduct following his latest run-in with police about 10:15 p.m. Monday.
Police said they were called to the bar at 23 S. Prospect St. to a report of an assault. An anonymous caller reported Halliday was beating his girlfriend.
Officers arriving at the scene encountered a woman identified as Carol Moyer, who led them to Halliday’s office at the back of the bar, according to a police affidavit.
Police heard pounding from inside the office, and realized Halliday was nailing the door shut. Moyer knocked on the door and told him police were there. Halliday responded by cursing and saying the police better have a warrant and “anyone who walks through this door is getting shot,” according to police.
Officer Lee Makowski then knocked on the door and identified himself, but Halliday again responded by saying he better have a warrant and that if the officer entered, Halliday would shoot, according to the
affidavit.
Halliday then told the officer to meet him out back, a comment police understood to be a challenge to a fight. Makowski went around back and knocked on a back door that was opened a crack. Halliday emerged from his office.
“He was visibly intoxicated. He was covered in blood and had superficial cuts on his stomach,” the affidavit says. “Halliday became loud and boisterous and was yelling profanities in the alley behind his establishment.”
Police inquired about Halliday’s girlfriend, Kristyn Hischak, and were told she was “lying on the bathroom floor,” the affidavit says.
Halliday went on to say his injuries were caused by a man with a box cutter who was talking to Hischak in the bathroom, according to police.
Police went to the bathroom and found Hischak on the floor. She reported that Halliday had thrown her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach in a jealous rage because she was talking to a man named Brandon from Philadelphia. She also told police Halliday banged her head off the floor and that she did not see anyone slash Halliday with a box cutter while she was in the bathroom, police said.
As an ambulance approached the scene, Halliday began yelling that he didn’t want one because it costs money and began cursing at Hischak, police said.
Police arrested and searched Halliday, finding a bottle of the anti-anxiety medication Lorazapam, a 12mm socket that had been converted into a crack pipe and a piece of crack-cocaine, police said. Halliday then grabbed the socket and tried to remove the crack by slamming the pipe off the bar, police said. He was then handcuffed and arrested.
Court records show Magisterial District Judge Diana Malast set his bail at $20,000. He remained in custody at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility this morning.
Halliday was already out on $5,000 bail following his arrest March 3 on charges including fleeing police, causing an injury accident, reckless endangerment and drunken driving.
He is accused of nearly hitting a police car and then leading officers on a 1½-mile high-speed chase that included him hitting another car — which then struck a third vehicle — and two telephone poles before he
jumped from his vehicle and ran to hide in the woods.
Halliday’s ownership of the Prospect Street Cafe is slated to come to an end Saturday, when Nanticoke landlord Dan Warakomski is due to take possession of the property. Warakomski has said he intends to resell it later this year.