Troopers: Jeannette man assaulted Hempfield girlfriend in her apartment

A Hempfield woman who was allegedly assaulted by her boyfriend was discovered bloody, bruised and hiding in her apartment bedroom by state troopers early Friday.

Police said they were responding to the woman’s pleas for help made via text messages to a friend.

Police took Jason A. Hopkins, 28, of Jeannette into custody after they entered the woman’s apartment in the Hempfield Towers public housing complex on South Grande Boulevard about 2:10 a.m.

Hopkins was arraigned and ordered held in the Westmoreland County Prison after he failed to post $100,000 bail.

Trooper Nicholas Loughner reported in court documents that police were called by a friend of the victim who had received a text that Hopkins had repeatedly beat the woman after an argument that began at a July 4 party, “and indicated she also received a picture text message (from the victim) showing injuries to her mouth and face.”

Loughner said when the friend called the woman back by telephone “she could hear Hopkins hitting (the victim) … smacking, skin hitting skin.”

The woman told her friend that she had left the party alone, “but Hopkins showed up at her apartment uninvited.”

When troopers arrived, Loughner said no one would answer repeated knocks on the apartment door, so police obtained a master key from the maintenance department and they found Hopkins “sitting in a living room chair.”

Loughner said Hopkins refused repeated requests to show troopers his hands and had to be Tased before he could be put in handcuffs.

The woman had barricaded herself in her locked bedroom “and indicated she blacked out during the assault and woke up on the ground.”

The woman required medical attention, according to police.

Hopkins was charged by state police with simple assault, making terroristic threats, strangulation, resisting arrest and harassment. His preliminary hearing is scheduled July 12 before District Judge Mark Mansour.