Amish man describes Ohio hair-cutting attack on dad

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Amish preacher says he watched three other men cut his father’s hair and beard during an attack last fall that left his father shaking and family members screaming.

Preacher Andy Hershberger is the first witness in the trial of a group of Amish people from eastern Ohio accused of hate crimes in hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish.

He testified today in federal court here that his father, an Amish bishop, pleaded for the men not to shear him. But he says that within minutes the hair from his father’s beard had been cut and scattered across the floor. He says clumps of hair were missing from his father’s head and that his scalp was bleeding.

Beards and hair have great religious importance among the Amish.