CLEARFIELD – The preliminary hearing for a man accused of assaulting a state constable was continued until 9:30 a.m. Sept. 11 by Magisterial District Judge Jerome Nevling during Centralized Court on Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail.
Rusty Alan Maines, 48, of Lanse has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief. His bail was set at 50,000 monetary, which he’s posted.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, at approximately 4:37 p.m. Aug. 29, the Clearfield-based state police were dispatched to a fight, which involved a state constable, at 65 Walnut Ln., Cooper Township. Upon arrival Trooper Dennis Peters encountered the victim who had arrived at approximately 4:25 p.m. to serve Maines’ wife with legal paperwork.
Upon knocking at the residence, the victim told Peters he identified himself as a state constable. He was wearing his name tag and badge around his neck. He proceeded to serve the paperwork to Maines when he stated his wife wasn’t at home. After that the victim told Peters that an altercation started, as Maines attempted to give back the paperwork. Maines yelled at the victim to “stay there” and for someone inside the home to bring him his shoes.
According to the victim, he ran to his vehicle, put its windows up and locked its doors. However, Maines followed him to his vehicle and attempted to pull its doors open. When he was unable to open them, Maines punched the windows approximately four times and attempted to shatter them. Maines went to the windshield wiper and placed the paperwork beneath it, at which point he (the victim) exited the vehicle to remove them. He walked the paperwork to Maines’ daughter who was on the telephone with 9-1-1 and handed it to her. He walked back to his vehicle.
The victim told Peters the situation then escalated into a physical altercation. When he got back to his vehicle Maines allegedly struck him in the left side of his face with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground. When he got back up to his feet Maines allegedly pushed him twice in the chest, grabbed him by the neck and continued to strike him with a closed fist while he attempted to deflect the punches. Maines allegedly punched him again in the left side of his face with a closed fist, which caused him to fall to the ground face first. The victim got to his vehicle and waited for state police to arrive.
Peters observed abrasions to the victim’s upper forehead, as well as bloody abrasions to his right elbow. He observed a red mark on the left side of the victim’s face, which is where Maines had allegedly punched him. Additionally, Peters observed the victim’s shattered cell phone and his dented rear, driver’s side door that were allegedly caused by Maines during the altercation, the affidavit states.
During an interview, Maines told Peters that the victim arrived at approximately 4:30 p.m. Aug. 29 to serve paperwork to his wife. He observed the victim’s badge. After being given the paperwork, he followed the victim to his vehicle, knocked on the windows and attempted to give the paperwork back to him. Maines said he then put the paperwork beneath the windshield wiper and claimed the victim ran over his foot. At this point, he said the victim exited, took the paperwork to his daughter and returned to the vehicle.
Maines told Peters when the victim returned to the vehicle it escalated into a physical altercation. He admitted to grabbing the victim and throwing him around. Maines said the victim began to yell and also swore at his daughter, and he wasn’t going to allow him to speak to her that way again. As a result, Maines said he grabbed the victim again, threw him around and advised him to get off his property.
Peters didn’t observe any physical injuries on Maines, the affidavit states. Maines was transported to the Clearfield-based state police barracks and processed. Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. approved the charges, the affidavit states.