Marine vet held for threats with saw
A drunken Marine veteran picked up an electric saw in an Olyphant Avenue garage late Monday and threatened to disembowel a mechanic with it and cut off the man's limbs, police said.
Christopher Desando, 26, of 343 Morel St., Apt. 34B, told Andrew Alia that he served in Iraq with the Marine Corps and "knows how to cut people up," police said.
Moments earlier, Mr. Desando had appeared at Hyperformance Auto, 3100 Olyphant Ave., where Mr. Alia and John Domenick were working on vehicles and began "yelling and carrying on about a robbery."
Mr. Alia later told police he did not know what Mr. Desando was talking about, but the situation escalated when the latter picked up an electric reciprocating saw, which was plugged in.
Fearing for his life, Mr. Alia considered pulling out his concealed pistol but decided against it when he managed to put more distance between himself and Mr. Desando, police said.
At some point Mr. Desando put the saw down and grabbed Mr. Alia until Mr. Domenick separated them.
A friend of Mr. Desando's and a former employee of the garage, Michael Parry, arrived soon after and calmed Mr. Desando down, but not before Mr. Desando smashed items in the garage, police said.
The two men walked down Olyphant Avenue, where police caught up with them and arrested Mr. Desando for the incident as well as two outstanding warrants against him for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
Mr. Desando was charged with attempted aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.
Contact the writer: domalley@timesshamrock.com, @domalleyTT on Twitter