Elmira Man Arrested After Incident At Local Bank

[TTL News 308]

On Thursday at approximately 5:18 pm the Elmira Police Department responded to the Empower Federal Credit Union at 351 North Main St. for the report of a male who had been verbally abusive and aggressive toward Credit Union employees making them feel threatened. The male refused to leave the property after being asked to do so by employees.

Upon officer’s arrival they made contact and spoke to the male who was uncooperative but after a short time began driving away. Upon doing this the male began yelling obscenities out of his vehicle at officers, threw an item out of his vehicle and was observed not wearing a seat belt and also using a cellphone while driving.

Officers attempted to perform a traffic stop of the male to address the littering and vehicle and traffic law violations at which time the male refused to stop for the officers and continued northbound on North Main St. Due to past interactions with the male, officers were aware of his residence and believed that he was traveling there to which the officers followed him to the residence.

Upon arrival to this residence the male stopped his vehicle and pulled over to the side of the road. Officers approached the vehicle and gave orders for the male to exit the vehicle, to which he refused. Officers then utilized a police baton to break one of the vehicle’s windows and forcibly remove the male from the vehicle taking him into custody for criminal charges.

Due to the results of the investigation the Elmira Police Department charged 45 year old Benjamin J. Luisi  of Elmira with 1 count of Resisting Arrest, a    Class A Misdemeanor, 1 count of Obstructing Governmental Administration 2nd Degree, a Class A Misdemeanor, 1 count of Trespass, a violation, 1
count of Harassment 2nd Degree, a violation, 1 count of Littering From a Vehicle , a City Ordinance violation, and traffic citations for No Seat Belt Driver, Driving while using a mobile phone and failure to comply with a lawful order of a police officer.