Reading man whose arrest was caught on video at the Wyomissing Walmart is found guilty

Jun. 4—A Reading man whose arrest was captured on cellphone and surveillance videos and prompted local protests was found guilty Friday for the incident that occurred at the Wyomissing Walmart.

A Berks County jury found Stanley Gracius, 38, guilty of resisting arrest, defiant trespass and persistent disorderly conduct after the trial before Judge Patrick T. Barrett.

His sentencing is tentatively scheduled for July 14.

The charges stemmed from a July 20, 2020, incident when Wyomissing police were called to the store in the Berkshire Square shopping center.

Gracius scuffled with officers inside and outside the store before he was subdued and loaded into a police vehicle and taken away.

Videos of his arrest shot by passersby in the parking lot spread on social media and led to protests in the days that followed as it showed him being subdued with a Taser.

Protesters claimed police used excessive force in the arrest and said white officers showed racial bias against Gracius, who is Black.

On July 22 about 50 people gathered outside Wyomissing Borough Hall to protest the treatment and arrest of Gracius.

The district attorney's office investigated the incident and determined Wyomissing police acted appropriately.

Gracius, of the 200 block of Beech Street, had charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and disarming a law enforcement officer withdrawn at his preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors and police gave this account:

While Gracius was inside the Walmart he hopped on a children's bicycle, rode it around the store and played music loudly from a speaker attached to his waist.

The store manager asked Gracius to leave and he initially would not. Then police were called and he paid for the bike.

Gracius refused Wyomissing Police Sgt. Barry Moyer's repeated orders to provide identification so that he could be banned from the store, as the manager requested. He also did not comply when Moyer told him he was being placed under arrest and tried to cuff his hands behind his back.

That led to Moyer and Officer Richard Karstien, who had arrived to assist, to try to forcibly handcuff Gracius. A struggle ensued, during which Moyer warned Gracius that if he didn't stop struggling Moyer would use a Taser on him.

Gracious did not stop struggling, Moyer said, so he fired the Taser into Gracius' waist. It had no effect, so he deployed the weapon again. It still did not have an effect.

Eventually, the two officers wrestled Gracius to the floor and were able to cuff him with two sets of handcuffs.

During the trial, prosecutors showed video clips from surveillance cameras inside the store to show much of the incident, and the defense showed a video shot inside the store by a bystander. No videos shot outside the store were shown in court.

A later arrest

Gracius was also arrested Dec. 31 in Reading after he refused to comply with police who were called to investigate a complaint of an unwanted person in the 1000 block of Union Street, investigators said.

Adams said at the time that Gracius' obstinate and combative behavior, as alleged by police, was almost identical to his actions at the Walmart store.

Police gave this account:

An officer found a man later identified as Gracius on a porch.

Gracius refused to identify himself, saying he was on the porch because his girlfriend lives in that home. He repeatedly refused to comply with an officer's commands to move, then knocked on the door.

Gracius became resistant and tried to pull away multiple times, then sat down in front of the door, blocking the officer's path. The officer tried to handcuff Gracius, but the suspect refused to put his hands behind his back and started kicking, yelling and rolled onto a side.

Officers were eventually able to handcuff him.

The resident told police that she knew Gracius since they dated about 20 years ago and he would still occasionally contact her. She was clear that they were not dating at the moment and had told him to leave when he appeared at her door that night.

When he remained on her porch five hours later, she called the police.

Gracius was free on his own recognizance after being arraigned on charges of resisting arrest, defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and obstructing administration of law.

He is awaiting further court action on those charges.