Chester Police officer attacked after burglary suspect goes 'berserk': DA

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CHESTER, Pa. - A Chester Police officer was attacked while responding to a domestic disturbance Tuesday morning.

Officer attacked

What we know:

Police were called out to Meadow Lane near Ninth Street in Chester on Tuesday morning. According to Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse, a woman called police, saying her boyfriend had broken into her house with a knife.

When Officer Michael Tierney got there, he found Lawrence Crews. According to Rouse, Tierney "very professionally, very calmly tried to engage" with Crews. But, when Tierney asked Crews to put his hand behind his back, Crews "simply went berserk" Rouse said, attacking the officer, punching him and dragging him to the ground.

The two men fought for Tierney's taser, officials said. Crews was able to get it and hit the officer repeatedly in the head with his own taser.

More officers eventually responded, and were able to take Crews into custody. 

Rouse told FOX 29 that Officer Tierney had several cuts on the back of his head, and may have suffered a concussion.

‘There was no provocation’

What they're saying:

Rouse said that the attack "could have been a whole lot worse, and we're very thankful that it wasn't."

Before Tierney was attacked, Rouse said that the officer "did absolutely nothing wrong."

"He's talking to the guy, and he just gets jumped," Rouse said. "I think the reason Mr. Crews got the jump on him like he did is because there was no provocation, no reason to believe it was going to go down that way."

What's next:

Crews is being charged with burglary for the alleged incident at his girlfriend's house, aggravated assault and "a host of accompanying offenses," Rouse said.