Stiner Waives Hearing in Assault Case

CLEARFIELD – A Morrisdale man is facing charges after allegedly threatening several juveniles with a large knife while he was intoxicated.

Dennis L. Stiner, 66, is charged by Lawrence Township police with felony aggravated assault (four counts) and misdemeanor simple assault.

He’s also charged with two counts each of misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct, plus two counts of summary harassment.

Stiner waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday during centralized court, sending his case to county court. His bail was also modified from $25,000 monetary to unsecured.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Sept. 6, police were called to Montgomery Run Road where there was an active fight involving a large machete.

Clearfield County Dispatch advised that there was a large group of people involved, a lot of yelling could be heard and it was to be physical in nature.

Prior to police arrival, it was learned the male suspect, later identified as Stiner, had a large knife and was holding it to two male juveniles.

At the scene, Stiner was observed in the middle of Montgomery Run Road where he was actively trying to fight a juvenile. Both had their “fists up in a fighting position.”

Officer Jon Walker ordered both to get off the roadway and the juvenile complied. Stiner, however, did not and had to be forced off the roadway by the officer with soft hand techniques.

Stiner was placed on his knees, handcuffed and detained. He was turned over to arriving officers and Walker talked to a group of juveniles.

A female juvenile reported she had the entire incident on video, which Walker had her access on her phone. It shows Stiner and a male juvenile with their hands up throwing punches at each other.

The juveniles can be heard yelling as well as a relative of Stiner. The incident appears to deescalate when Stiner goes back to a trailer and the juveniles to theirs.

On the video, a juvenile can then be heard saying “put the knife down” and it pans to Stiner, who now has a large, sheathed knife in-hand. He removes the sheath and confronts the juveniles again.

Stiner can be heard as he allegedly threatens to cut their [expletive] heads off. He drops the knife and proceeds to have a fist fight with a juvenile in the middle of Montgomery Run Road.

The knife was located on the deck of the trailer, which a relative of Stiner removed for safety reasons. It was collected by police as evidence as well as the juvenile’s video.

Stiner was reportedly found to be intoxicated at the time of the incident and put in a holding cell at the township police station in lieu of the charges.