SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 53-year-old man was charged Tuesday with threatening two Garden Grove officers with a butcher knife as they investigated a domestic dispute against the defendant's wife.
Fernando Alcalarodriguez of Garden Grove was charged with two counts of assault with a weapon on a peace officer with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon as well as a count of criminal threats, all felonies. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of corporal injury on a spouse.
Alcalarodriguez pleaded not guilty during a hearing in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana on Tuesday and was ordered to return to court for a pretrial hearing Jan. 15 in the West Justice Center in Westminster.
The two officers were dispatched to the 10000 block of Orangewood Avenue about 8:20 p.m. Sunday to investigate a domestic dispute, said Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney. When the officers were told it was just a verbal argument they left, but as they walked to their squad car, the defendant's daughter ran after them to say Alcalarodriguez had armed himself with a large butcher knife, Whitney said.
The officers returned to the home and as they tried to talk to the defendant he started walking toward them with the knife before dashing into a bedroom, Whitney said.
Eventually, officers managed to persuade Alcalarodriguez to surrender without incident, Whitney said.
Alcalarodriguez's wife then said he had struck her, Whitney said.
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