'You think you're going to die'
SAXONBURG — Testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday in the case of an alleged assault last month involving a hatchet at times sounded worthy of a scary movie.
An ambush by a mask-wearing attacker armed with a hatchet and stun gun is how one man described what happened at his home in Penn Township, just days before Halloween.
“I heard this rushing (noise) and then, bam, just a huge shocking blow,” said Russell Callenberg. “And then I was out, on the ground, upside down.”
When the 69-year-old Callenberg came to with the assailant on top of him, he managed to tear off the mask, he said, revealing the man behind the disguise — his next-door neighbor on Morgan Road.
District Judge Sue Haggerty ordered Ronald A. Postreich, 70, held for trial on felony assault and other charges following the hearing Wednesday.
Callenberg said the alleged attack at about 3 p.m. Oct. 18 left him sore, bruised — and with a broken rib and collapsed lung.
Callenberg testified that he was mowing his backyard on a lawn tractor when he sensed the impending bushwhack. Moments later, he felt it.
“A giant blow hit me from behind,” Callenberg said.
It was enough to knock him off the tractor. It also dislodged the eyeglasses, hat and ear protectors Callenberg was wearing. On the ground, he looked up and saw a man in a Halloween-style mask holding a rusty hatchet in one hand and a stun gun in the other.
Richard Bosco, a Butler County assistant district attorney, asked him what was going through his mind.“You think you're going to die,” Callenberg replied.The “flickering” of the stun gun, he recounted, told him that the device was activated.But his immediate focus was on the small ax. “I thought that was the biggest danger,” Callenberg told Bosco while on the stand.He managed to wrestle the hatchet away from the assailant, and then reached up to grab the mask.“I took it off,” he said, “and realized it was Ronald Postreich.”Callenberg testified that he jammed his thumb into Postreich's right eye and squirmed and wiggled his way out from underneath his neighbor. He then ran off, and during his getaway yelled back, “You're crazy. You're out of your mind. You're going to jail.”On cross-examination Callenberg told defense attorney Jerry Russo of Cumberland County that Postreich said nothing during the entire incident.He also acknowledged that he could not say if the blow to his head was from the hatchet, stun gun or any other object.Once Callenberg got back to his house, he called 911. Penn Township Police Sgt. Cheryl Cranmer arrived and talked to him. She also inspected where the suspected attack happened.The officer found the mask near the tractor, under a tree in Postreich's yard.
Later, Cranmer went to speak to Postreich. When she went inside his home, according to court documents, she noticed a hatchet that matched Callenberg's description.Police said Postreich denied carrying out the assault.Callenberg said the attack left him with bruising and soreness to the back of his head and neck, as well as chest pain. He was treated for injuries at Butler Memorial Hospital.Within a week he went for additional treatment at VA Butler Healthcare, where he was told that he had suffered a collapsed lung and fractured rib in the assault.Postreich, who is free on $75,000 bail, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime, possessing a prohibited offensive weapon and trespass.While a possible motive for the incident was never discussed during testimony, police in their complaint mentioned “previous civil issues” between the victim and defendant.Court records at Haggerty's office and the Butler County Courthouse showed a list of claims and counterclaims the neighbors have filed over the years involving matters of property damage, trespassing and Postreich's dogs.
