Man accused of wielding knives while naked inside eye doctor’s office
By Ed DiOrio
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NORTH BELLE VERNON, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — A man is behind bars after police said he allegedly entered an eye doctor’s office naked while holding two large knives in North Belle Vernon on Monday.
“It’s certainly something you would never expect to hear on a normal, quiet Monday morning in North Belle Vernon,” Check Eye Group optometrist Dr. John Cicchini said. “Very little problems here in North Belle Vernon.”
Darnell Howell, 54, is the man police said is responsible.
According to Howell’s criminal complaint, the incident started just after 1 p.m.
One of the women working inside was on a break. She told us off-camera that she saw Howell walking down the street wearing nothing but gym shorts. He was holding a butcher knife in one hand and a steak knife in the other.
The worker ran inside to warn the others inside.
“I heard a bunch of chaos from the front of the office,” Cicchini said. “I saw a large, African American man who is half-dressed in just black running shorts, swinging away with two large knives.”
According to Cicchini and authorities, Howell quickly started doing damage to the front lobby.
“He had knocked off some frames, broke some frames, and threw a display down,” Cicchini said. “The girls were all chaotic. We were trying to call 911. We were all scattered.”
It wasn’t long before the man was in the back of the office.
“He proceeded to stab the walls with the knives,” Cicchini said. “He sat on our sofa. He stabbed that around 16 times. He was trying to break into the business office where I was at.”
During this, Howell’s criminal complaint states that he dropped his shorts, making him completely naked.
“He cornered one of our girls as she was pinned between a refrigerator and a wall,” Ciccini said. “He had two large knives. We were really lucky in the aspect that no one got hurt.”
Through all of this, no one inside knew who the man was or why he was there.
“He did not say a word,” Cicchini said. “He was just grunting. He was just making lots of motions and movements with the large knives. I don’t know if he knew where he was.”
North Belle Vernon Police Chief Eugene Lipari told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that Howell was likely under the influence. The department was familiar with him from previous cases involving drugs.
Lipari was the one who chased Howell out of the office after he allegedly dropped the knives.
“He proceeded up the street naked and flailing around,” Cicchini said. “At least he didn’t have the knives in his hands.”
Howell was arrested about a block away from Check Eye Group. He was taken to a local medical facility for treatment and was arraigned on Tuesday morning.
No one was seriously injured.
“He probably left more mental chaos than anything else,” Cicchini said. “Everyone was just freaked out.”
Now, the long-standing eye doctor’s office is having to rethink how to go about safety.
“We’re already putting a few little things in place to make sure we have a safe room for everybody to get to,” Cicchini said. “This is definitely a one-off experience that could have been a lot worse.”
Howell is facing 13 total charges, including multiple counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
He’s currently being held inside Westmoreland County Jail.
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