Game of ding-dong-ditch gone wrong? Jury acquits Falls homeowner who confronted teens

A Falls man has been found not guilty of assaulting and pointing a gun at two 12-year-old boys in a case of ding-dong-ditch gone wrong.

A Bucks County jury returned the verdict late Tuesday following a two-day trial for Brian Blackshire, who had been charged with felony aggravated assault, and related misdemeanors and a summary charge of harassment.

The jury found Blackshire not guilty on all charges, and Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Finley dismissed a misdemeanor terroristic threats charge.

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Falls police charged Blackshire, 39, last August after the parents of one of the boys, who are now 13, reported the alleged assault. The boy claimed he and a friend had snuck out of the house at 4 a.m. to play ding-dong-ditch, a game where someone knocks on a door, then runs away, according to police.

The boys knocked on Blackshire’s Nettletree Lane home twice, and ran to a nearby pump station after the second time where Blackshire confronted them.  One boy alleged Blackshire assaulted him and pointed the gun at his friend and cocked back the slide, according to an affidavit.

Blackshire told police he heard a loud thump like someone was trying to kick down his front door and break in, and claimed recently someone attempted to break into his home, the affidavit said.  Police found a small footprint on the door.

He also admitted he saw the kids both times after they knocked, and he had his handgun with him when he confronted them at the pump station, police said. Blackshire told police he pushed one boy into a fence and kicked him, but denied hitting him or pointing his handgun.

Blackshire’s defense attorney Paul Lang called the verdict a “complete renunciation” of the teens’ “lying” testimony and a “pathetic” police investigation.

“Brian waited a year for his day in court and testified to the honorable actions he took that day to defend himself and his family from hooded figures at 3:30am,” Lang said Wednesday.

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Ding-dong-ditch in Bucks County leads to assault charge, acquittal