Girard man indicted on assault charges

Girard man indicted on assault charges

Staff report

WARREN

William Exline, 31, of 53 Skoplee St., Girard, has been indicted on charges of felonious assault and aggravated robbery, accused of cutting a Girard police officer with a knife May 4.

A grand jury handed up the charges this week in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Police said they went to a home at 47 Skoplee on May 4 for a man beating on a door. They found Exline there and talked to him until Exline fled on foot.

Officer Tim O’Leary caught Exline in a field a short distance away, but Exline cut the officer on the side of the face and ear, apparently with a pocket knife from his pants, police said.

O’Leary and another officer arrested Exline, and O’Leary was treated for his wounds at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Exline was wanted on a warrant at the time because of an incident two days earlier in which police said he threatened a relative and neighbor on Skoplee with a hammer.

The aggravated-robbery charge relates to Exline’s attempting to remove a deadly weapon, such as a gun, from an officer that day, according to his indictment.

If convicted on the two charges, Exline could get 20 years in prison.