CLEARFIELD– A DuBois man who fought with police after he was caught breaking into a DuBois residence was sentenced Tuesday in Clearfield County Court.
Daniel Tejeda, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and attempt/criminal trespass before Judge Paul E. Cherry. Cherry sentenced him to four months to one year in jail and one year consecutive probation.
He must submit to DNA testing due to the felony charges and he was ordered to complete anger management counseling.
He was fined $450 plus costs and must pay restitution of $112.88 to the DuBois City police.
Tejeda was originally charged with nine counts of aggravated assault for his actions on April 1 at 12:51 a.m. at an East DuBois Avenue residence in DuBois.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were dispatched to a burglary in process at the home after the victims said they were awakened by someone pounding on their door.
When one of the residents went downstairs, they saw a man violently hitting and kicking the door, and he claimed he was bleeding and needed help.
The resident told the man he would not open the door, but he would call police for help. This seemed to agitate the man who tried even harder to gain entry to the residence. Both victims said they were in fear for their safety and one of them grabbed a kitchen knife for protection.
The first officer on scene said a man was screaming he was “going to get a gun,” as he rammed the back inside door with his body.
The suspect, later identified as Tejeda, tried to punch the officer who suffered a small laceration on his right leg along with swelling to his shin.
When two additional officers arrived, the first officer had Tejeda at Taser point, according to the complaint. A second officer raised his firearm to cover the first officer.
They ordered Tejeda to the ground several times without compliance. Finally the suspect started to kneel on the ground but when the first officer grabbed the suspect, he immediately resisted by pulling away.
Again the officers attempted to take him to the ground. He would not comply with their orders to put his hands behind his back and instead kept pulling his arms away, police said.
Tejeda started biting the third officer who yelled for him to stop. When Tejeda did not stop, the third officer kicked him in the torso. This didn’t stop Tejeda. The first officer then deployed his Taser. This seemed to only affect Tejeda briefly before he resumed resisting.
After a while, the second officer put his arm around Tejeda’s neck and squeezed it in an attempt to gain control of him. This worked and he was finally handcuffed. At this point, three additional officers arrived to assist.
Tejeda continued to fight and kick at all of them. Eventually they were able to apply shackles to his legs and attach them to the handcuffs, which stopped him from kicking.
The first officer told investigators that Tejeda grabbed his duty weapon as they struggled. His radio holder was destroyed as Tejeda ripped it off his belt while they fought.
The second officer suffered some bruising and scuff marks on his knees. The third officer sustained a laceration to the right side of his face, a bite mark on his left foot and some bruising to his fingers.