CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Additional details have been released in the case against a Clarion man accused of assaulting a Pennsylvania State Trooper around midnight on August 9 at the Clarion Hospital.
Court documents indicate Clarion-based State Police filed criminal charges against 28-year-old Matthew K. Arthur, of Clarion.
According to a criminal complaint, PSP Clarion were dispatched to the Clarion Hospital Emergency Room around 11:45 p.m. on August 9 for a report of a combative patient who was fighting with the ER staff.
The complaint states that when officers arrived, they could hear a man, later identified as Arthur, screaming from inside the ER. As they entered the ER, they found Arthur restrained to the gurney shouting obscenities. Arthur repeatedly requested to be allowed to sit up and when he was told that couldn’t be done, Arthur became violent.
At one point, Arthur pulled out his IV and was then handcuffed to the gurney. As the ER staff was tending to the IV, Arthur was able to free his legs from the straps on the back board. Officers attempted to restrain him. and he attempted to kick one officer and then pivoted toward another officer and kicked him in the mouth causing an approximate one-inch abrasion in the inside of his lip. Both officers were in full State Police uniform in the performance of their sworn duty and had identified themselves to Arthur, according to the complaint.
Further interviews revealed that Arthur “swung at a Clarion Hospital paramedic in an attempt to strike him while in the ambulance on the way to the Clarion Hospital. Additionally, Arthur attempted to kick a registered nurse while he was in the Emergency Room,” the complaint continues.
As a result of the investigation, a criminal complaint was filed against Arthur.
He was arraigned at 9:00 p.m. on August 10 on four counts of second-degree Aggravated Assault.
Unable to post $50,000.00 monetary bail, he was lodged in the Clarion County Jail.
A preliminary hearing is set for 9:00 a.m. on August 16 before Magisterial District Judge Timothy P. Schill.
