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Detroit Tigers, Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch dies at age 87

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Nine arrested for allegedly passing drugs in county prison visitor booth

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; An inmate at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility struggled with officers during a strip search for drugs last year and slammed one of them to the floor, breaking her back, according to court documents.</p><p>The search of Kassandra Martin produced packets of heroin, crystal methamphetamine and tobacco, the documents said. She was charged Friday in the assault and sent back to the prison with an additional $100,000 bail imposed on top of the $250,000 she was unable to post after a drug arrest in Kingston earlier this week. District Justice Thomas Malloy, of Wilkes-Barre, scheduled Martin&#8217;s preliminary hearing for 10 a.m. on Feb. 23 on charges of aggravated assault, possession of contraband and resisting arrest.</p><p>The affidavit of probable cause to support the latest charges against Martin said she used her 5-feet-5 inch, 200-pound body to slam Lt. Sherry Souchick to the concrete floor, fracturing a vertebra in her spinal column in December. The status of Souchick&#8217;s employment and her condition could not be determined Friday.</p><p>Martin had abrasions on the left side of her face when she appeared for her arraignment. She argued with county Detective Lt. Dan Yursha about the validity of the address of Main Street, Vandling in Lackawanna County listed on court documents.</p><p>&#8220;That is my real address. I&#8217;m just not allowed there,&#8221; she said, adding it was ex-boyfriend&#8217;s residence.</p><p>&#8220;We just want to find you. We&#8217;re not being wiseguys,&#8221; Yursha said.</p><p>When asked why she was in prison at the time of the reported assault, Martin replied, &#8220;Not sure.&#8221;</p><p>A check of records determined she was brought in on possession of drug paraphernalia charges filed by state police. She pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 and released from the prison to be sentenced at a later date.</p><p>According to the affidavit: The morning of Dec. 13, the day of the assault, an inmate told correctional officers that there were drugs in a cell on the fourth-floor. The cell was searched but nothing was found and officers next turned to the inmates. When it came time to search Martin she was uncooperative, and it appeared she was trying to push something down the front of her pants into her vagina.</p><p>Martin refused orders to &#8220;cuff up,&#8221; and became uncontrollable and led to a call for &#8220;all available&#8221; officers due to the dangerous situation on the cell block. Help arrived and officers subdued, handcuffed and shackled Martin who was taken to the female strip search area. As Souchick and nurse Diane Emmett attempted conduct the search Martin resisted by pushing and pulling. Martin &#8220;exposed&#8221; one bag of contraband that was taken by officer Joell Petrovich.</p><p>However, Martin continued to be combative, first slamming Petrovich into a wall and then slamming Souchick onto the floor where she lay immobile. Martin further resisted and kept trying to push contraband into her vagina, but the officers were able to gain control and retrieved two more bags from her pants.</p><p>Petrovich and another officer were transported to the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital emergency room for treatment. Souchick was taken to the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center where it was determined she suffered a fracture to the second lumbar disc in her back.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County detectives Dan Yursha, left and Chaz Balogh, right, escort Kassandra Martin from her arraignment Friday on charges she allegedly assaulted and injured a female correctional officer during an attempted strip search at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_K-Martin_assaultCrop2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County detectives Dan Yursha, left and Chaz Balogh, right, escort Kassandra Martin from her arraignment Friday on charges she allegedly assaulted and injured a female correctional officer during an attempted strip search at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Inmate charged in assault that broke back of CO at Luzerne County prison