A Bradford man is in McKean County Jail after he allegedly hit another man with a hatchet during an argument about a television set.
Paul M. Travis III, 32, of 21 Park St., upper apt., is charged with aggravated assault — causes serious bodily injury under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, a first-degree felony; simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor; and harassment, a summary charge.
The criminal complaint states that at 11:07 a.m. Wednesday, Bradford City Police were called to Bradford Regional Medical Center for an assault victim.
The officer learned that the alleged victim, Jonathan Davis — the ex-boyfriend of Travis’s sister — was moving out of the Park Street apartment where Travis lived with his family. Davis was there collecting belongings at the time of the alleged assault, court records stated.
Travis entered the bedroom Davis was in and started arguing with him over a Vizio television set; Davis told Travis he’d be taking the TV, as he was moving out, the complaint stated.
While Davis was sitting on the floor gathering clothes, Travis allegedly struck him multiple times in the head; When Davis tried to turn and defend himself, he saw Travis holding a hatchet. Travis struck him again multiple times with the tool, “causing severe lacerations and contusions to the head, neck, back and torso area of Davis,” the complaint stated.
Davis blacked out during the assault and remembers waking up to see Travis’s stepfather trying to intervene to help Davis get out of the house and to the hospital.
The treatment Davis received at the hospital included two staples to his head where he was cut with the hatchet, court records stated.
The complaint indicated that while an officer was talking to Davis at the hospital, Bradford police received an additional call at 21 Park St. for a second active domestic in which Travis was the alleged actor. Officers responding to the second call took Travis into custody for the alleged assault on Davis.
Travis’s stepfather told police that Travis may have been under the influence of drugs during the altercation with Davis, according to court records.
Travis was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Dominic Cercone and jailed on $75,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is set for April 15.
Travis was out on bail for a previous assault case at the time the alleged hatchet assault occurred.
According to court records, Travis is facing charges of strangulation, a second-degree felony, and simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor, for an alleged incident on Dec. 5 in Bradford City. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bail after his arraignment for the strangulation case.
The strangulation case is still pending, and he is scheduled to appear for a formal arraignment April 23 in McKean County Court in Smethport.
