Arnold man accused of threatening to cut man’s head off with hedge clippers, wielding pistol
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Arnold police accused a man of threatening to cut another man’s head off with hedge clippers before pulling a gun on him and his daughter after they had asked him to stop taking video of them with a cellphone.
Vincent G. Mazziotti, 30, of the 1800 block of Freeport Road in Arnold was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault along with two counts of making terroristic threats and a count of resisting arrest.
He was released from custody on a $25,000 unsecured bond and was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing June 15 before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.
Police wrote in a criminal complaint that Mazziotti was detained after officers were dispatched to a home in the 1700 block of Freeport Road shortly before 12:30 p.m. June 3.
Mazziotti told officers who approached him that he had a gun in his pocket, and they confiscated a 9 mm pistol from him, the complaint said.
The man who called police told investigators that he and his young daughter were outside their home when Mazziotti began videotaping them.
The man asked Mazziotti to stop recording, the complaint said, but he responded by accosting him and then starting up a pair of hedge clippers.
Mazziotti then ran toward the man while the hedge clippers were running, the complaint said.
The man told police he picked up a rock so he could defend himself as he tried to usher his daughter back into their house.
He said Mazziotti then dropped the hedge clippers and threatened to cut off his head, the complaint said.
Mazziotti also is accused of threatening to sexually assault the man’s daughter, who is a juvenile, according to the complaint.
The man told police that Mazziotti then went to his truck to get a handgun and started waving it at him and his daughter, the complaint said.
Police said Mazziotti had to be taken to the ground after an officer got a handcuff on one of his wrists and he pulled away and began swinging it with his arm.