CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man accused of severely beating a man outside Mary’s Place in Clearfield pleaded guilty.
Tyler Peters, 23, an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to 10 to 20 months in jail and two years consecutive probation. Peters was ordered to complete anger management counseling and was fined $250 plus costs.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman told Peters that if he came back into court again, he would be going to state prison.
According to testimony from the victim at a preliminary hearing, he got “the crap beaten out” of him in a parking lot near Mary’s Place in May.
The victim encountered Peters, whom he had never met before, inside the bar that night when Peters asked him to buy him a beer. The victim thought Peters might be under age, but realized Peters was intoxicated to the point that the bartender would no longer serve him. The victim refused to help him.
He overheard Peters calling his father and the victim thought he was asking his father to come to the bar. The call ended quickly and the victim asked if Peters’ dad hung up on him. Peters said he did and the two then started arguing and calling each other names.
The victim admitted he didn’t know which of them first mentioned taking their disagreement outside. Eventually they went out to the parking lot. They were still “just arguing” when the bartender came out and warned them not to fight on the property of Mary’s Place. The victim said he and Peters went to an area behind the bar.
Peters knocked the victim out cold. The next thing he knew, a man was helping him up. The bartender gave him an ice pack and the victim asked what it was for. He told the victim to trust him, because he needed it for his face.
The victim said his right eye was completely swollen shut, and his left eye was almost as bad. He had a fracture in his cheek bone and he thought at first his nose was broken, but it wasn’t.
Someone called the police and when they arrived, the victim hid behind a dumpster. He admitted he is currently on parole and was not supposed to be in a bar or drinking. The victim is on parole for drug charges for his involvement in the “Operation Drive Thru” drug ring.
An officer found him and then an ambulance took him to the hospital.
From the ambulance, the victim identified Peters as the one who struck him, according to the testimony of a Clearfield Borough police officer.
Peters asked to be taken to the hospital and he wanted photos taken of his face even though he didn’t appear to be injured. At the hospital, Peters was belligerent with the nurses and had to be told to calm down. He repeatedly cursed at everyone, the officer said. By the time the doctor cleared Peters for release, he was asked to get out.
As he was put into the patrol car, he swore at his mother who was now on the scene. Peters kicked the car door and was put into the vehicle. Then he kicked the window. He was taken out of the vehicle and shackled before being placed into the car a second time, the officer testified.
Peters was on probation for theft from a motor vehicle at that time of the assault. In June he was sentenced to 30 days to one year in jail and one year probation for violating that probation by committing the assault. His previous record includes another assault in 2011.