Published: October 17, 2009 12:31 am      

Scissors-wielding DUI suspect threatened cops, police allege

A Johnstown man was jailed Friday after police said he threatened them with a pair of scissors when they stopped him in Westmont Borough on suspicion of drunken driving.

West Hills Regional police said they stopped a 1994 Buick swerving down Menoher Boulevard around 8 p.m. Thursday. The driver, Michael J. Serafin, 56, of Sherwood Drive, opened the center console and picked up a pair of scissors, police said in the affidavit of probable cause. He then “cupped them as if he was going to use them as a weapon.”

Serafin was trying to get out of the car when an officer smashed the passenger side window, causing him to drop the scissors, police said.

Serafin was pulled from the vehicle and wrestled with the officers. He was stunned with a Taser and handcuffed, police said.

“He had a pair of scissors in his hand and he was very confrontational,” police Sgt. George Musulin III said. “He was intoxicated and very combative. It took three officers to subdue him.”

Serafin was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown for a blood test. While there, according to the affidavit, Serafin threatened to kill police, who he said had abused him while he was handcuffed. Serafin’s blood alcohol content was 0.22 percent, police said.

He was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and driving under the influence of alcohol.

He was arraigned by District Judge Michael Musulin of Johnstown and sent to the Cambria County Prison after failing to post 10 percent of $50,000 bond.