William Charles Asuzu Jr., 30, 210 S. Fourth St., Clearfield, an inmate of the jail, is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, two counts of simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and three counts of harassment. He is housed in the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
The charges stem from an incident in Clearfield Borough on July 26 at Asuzu’s residence where Asuzu was fighting with a woman. He threatened her with a knife and when police arrived he refused to drop the knife until he was tased.
Douglas Campbell, attorney for Asuzu, noted that he has been incarcerated since August. He explained that Asuzu never “intended to hurt anyone but himself.”
First Assistant District Attorney Beau Grove was opposed to reducing Asuzu’s bail because he had to be tased and stated Asuzu’s actions were “not just toward himself.” He stated Asuzu should be in jail until he is sentenced.
Judge Paul E. Cherry reviewed the affidavit in the case before denying the motion.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were dispatched to a domestic incident where a woman was on the phone screaming for help while a male yelled in the background.
When officers arrived on the scene they could hear a woman yelling “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
An officer could see through a window that the man was pushing the woman into the corner of the kitchen, away from the door. The officers then announced their presence but received no answer. Due to the commotion inside and a fear of the woman’s safety, the officers entered the apartment.
The woman was screaming and crying. The officers drew their weapons. The man, later identified as Asuzu, was holding a knife in his closed fist that was pointed downward. Asuzu was told to drop the knife.
The second officer holstered his weapon and pulled his taser. He ordered the man to drop the knife or he would be tased. Asuzu took a step backward away from the woman. He was ordered again to drop the knife.
Instead he began yelling at the officers asking them what they were going to do, and telling them to “go ahead” and shoot him. After more commands to drop the knife were ignored, he started to slowly move toward them. The officer then fired his taser, striking him in the chest. Asuzu dropped the knife and fell to the ground, landing on his back. The officer took the knife and threw it away from Asuzu. The two officers were then able to handcuff the defendant.
Asuzu continued yelling at the woman, saying it was her fault because she had been cheating on him. He was taken outside and placed on the steps of a neighboring apartment. The taser probes were removed. When he was asked if he wanted medical attention, he declined.
While at the police station he asked an officer what it would take for him to shoot him with the taser again. He said “maybe I will get lucky and it will stop my heart.” He asked several similar questions.
He stated that when he wasn’t handcuffed anymore he was going to reach for their weapons. Asuzu was then taken to Penn Highlands Clearfield for a mental health evaluation.
The victim provided a statement on the events. She said they were in the living room when she admitted that she was cheating on him. He said “it does not matter. Nothing matters anymore” as he went to the kitchen. She followed him and saw him pick up the knife. He cut himself multiple times while she yelled “stop!” and tried to take the knife from him. He screamed at her, crying and shaking. She begged him to stop, but he cut himself again.
When she stepped forward to stop him, he raised the knife up to her as he continued to yell. She was terrified that he was going to stab her and she called 9-1-1. He yelled that he was going to kill himself.
At one point, he put the knife down. He pushed her hard against the kitchen wall yelling at her to get out. He told her he would be dead by the time the cops got there and said she should leave him to die. He picked up the knife again, and raised it to her. That was when the police arrived.