
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 41-year-old Ponca City man has been ordered to appear in court with an attorney on Aug. 15 on Payne County charges alleging he threatened an auto parts store employee on Perkins Road with a knife and attacked a Stillwater police officer.
If convicted of both counts, former Stillwater resident Jeffrey Michael Hernandez Sr. could be given as much as a 15-year prison term. Hernandez was jailed for three weeks until being released on $20,000 bail with an order to have no contact with his victims, court records show.
Police were sent at 2:45 pm on May 15 to an auto parts store on a report that Hernandez threatened to slit an employee’s throat with a knife, Stillwater Police Officer Jeremiah Johnson alleged in an affidavit.
“I told Hernandez he was not under arrest, but he was being placed in investigative detention. Instantly and without hesitation, Hernandez tensed up his arms and his entire body. He was argumentative, and his demeanor seemed to be very erratic. One moment he was yelling and cussing, and then the next, he would speak to us relatively calmly.
“One moment he tensed up his body so rigid he began to shake and then he seemed to moan or growl at us. I removed a folding pocketknife from his front right pocket for safety and removed the backpack he was wearing.
“At one point, Hernandez started to lay down on the floor, but still refused to place his hands behind his back. The entire time, he still acted very erratically, and his temperament was unpredictable.
“Hernandez then began to stand up and tried pulling his arms away from us. I determined at that point we should take Hernandez to the ground,” to put him in investigative detention, Johnson alleged in his affidavit.
“I then attempted to leg sweep and hip toss Hernandez to the ground. He stepped over my leg and pulled away from us. Hernandez then ran backward as I pursued him.
“As I got closer to placing hands on him, he punched at me with a right hook. I lost grasp of him as he continued to flee from us.
“As he ran further into the warehouse, he realized he could not get out the way he was running. Hernandez then turned round and charged at me while lowering his head.
“As Hernandez charged me with head lowered, he tried wrapping his arms around me. I placed Hernandez in a headlock once he charged and attacked me. While maintaining the headlock on Hernandez, with a closed fist I attempted a few body strikes to the left side of his ribcage in an effort to gain compliance with my orders. Even still, Hernandez refused to comply.
“At this point (Officer Josh) Rudluff was able to circle behind Hernandez and deploy his ECD into Hernandez’ back. The ECD made good contact, and I continued to order Hernandez to the ground, which he did at that point.
“Hernandez was in possession of the knife and a loaded Taurus semi-automatic handgun was located in his backpack along with an additional fully loaded magazine of 12 rounds of ammunition,” Johnson alleged in his affidavit.
The employee reported, “Hernandez was making claims that the staff had damaged his car battery. (He) said at one point, Hernandez pulled out his pocketknife and showed it to him. He went on to tell me that Hernandez stated, ‘I’ll f…… slit your throat. When Hernandez said this, he said he could hear the opening and closing of the knife even though he could not see it. It appeared Hernandez had lowered the knife out of his view,” the affidavit alleged.
The employee said he “was able to step into the warehouse area and away from Hernandez to call the police,” the affidavit said.