CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man accused of an aggravated assault incident involving a knife waived his right to a preliminary hearing during Centralized Court on Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail.
William Charles Asuzu Jr., 30, of Clearfield has been charged with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment. His bail remains set at $50,000 monetary.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on July 26, Clearfield Borough police received a report about a 9-1-1 hang-up call on South Fourth Street. County Control advised police a female was screaming for help and a male could be heard screaming in the background.
Upon arrival police approached the rear apartment, at which time they heard a commotion inside. Police heard a female scream in fear “stop, stop, stop.” Also, police saw a male pushing the female into a corner of the kitchen.
Police knocked on the apartment door and no one answered. At that point, police entered the apartment where they found a female screaming and crying; a male was standing by her with a knife pointed downward in a closed fist. Police pulled their weapons and commanded the male to drop the knife from his left hand.
While still in possession of the knife, the male took a step toward police. At the same time, he was yelling, “What are you going to do?! Shoot me?! Go ahead, [expletive] shoot me! Shoot me!”
Police again commanded for the male to drop the knife and he didn’t comply. Instead, the male continued to stand with his right foot forward and his left foot back with the knife pointing downward in his left hand.
According to the affidavit, the male continued to be non-compliant to police commands. He slowly advanced toward police with the threat of the knife. Police feared for their own safety, as well as for that of the female due to the male’s non-compliance and threatening nature.
One officer then holstered his weapon and deployed a taser, striking the male in his chest and stomach area. The male dropped the knife while falling to the ground and police turned him away to keep him from using it to threaten them and the female. Police took the knife and threw it into the opposite corner of the kitchen to ensure it was out of reach of both the male and female.
The male continued yelling at the female while police started handcuffing him. Police took him outside and sat him down. While outside, the male started challenging police and questioning what would happen if he stood up.
The male was later identified as Asuzu after he’d given police several different names. He was transported to the borough police station where he asked what it would take for police to deploy the taser on him again.
Asuzu made several similar comments about harming himself while at the police station. He told police he’d reach for their weapons when he wasn’t any longer in handcuffs. Police subsequently had a crisis worker respond to the station to assess Asuzu. The crisis worker followed police to Clearfield Penn Highlands for Asuzu to have a mental health evaluation.
In her written statement, the alleged victim explained Asuzu had threatened to and attempted to harm himself several times. She said she was trying to keep him from harming himself and had called 9-1-1. The alleged victim also said Asuzu had raised the knife to her during the incident and she was terrified that he’d stab her.