A Schuylkill County man is facing a number of charges after he allegedly sliced another man in the face with a sword over the weekend.
Court documents reveal that Robert Beach, of Mechanicsville (outside Pottsville), is facing a first-degree felony aggravated assault charge, several misdemeanors and a summary offense after an incident in the borough during the early-morning hours of Saturday, June 15.
Police say Charles Bedford approached a group of men hanging out and drinking in a shed near a home on E. Norwegian St. at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Bedford tells police that he approached the shed looking for a lighter for his cigarette.
Beach provided the lighter and he and Bedford began talking about swords, police say. Each then went to their homes to retrieve a sword.
When they returned to the shed with their swords in hand, an argument ensued about the “pedigree” of each person’s sword. Then, that argument got physical, police say. Beach apparently got verbally and visually irate as they argued about their swords’ pedigrees.
Bedford tells police that his sword was blunt and couldn’t cause any harm to someone. He apparently found out that Beach’s sword was not so blunt.
Police say Bedford suffered a laceration to his face, ranging from his eyebrow to under his nose. When they arrived at the scene, the laceration was bleeding. Beach told police he had some swelling under his left eye but police did not observe any injuries.
As police questioned Beach about the incident, they noticed that he’d been drinking. He had bloodshot and glassy eyes, smelled of booze, slurred his speech and had trouble maintaining his balance, they say.
Beach had to be reminded several times not to touch the State Trooper questioning him and got within a foot of his face several times. Each time police told him to stand down, Beach got more irate, they say in their affidavit.
Later, Beach took police to his home to show him the sword in question. Police say when Beach unsheathed the sword, it was wet and smelled of an alcohol-based cleaner.
Beach was arraigned before District Magistrate Anthony Kilker on Saturday and remanded to Schuylkill County Prison on $50,000 cash bail, which he posted the same day.
He’s due back in court for a Preliminary Hearing before District Magistrate David Plachko on July 16.
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