Man well-known to police jailed after alleged assault
A Butler man is accused of assaulting his wife during a domestic dispute at the couple's home, authorities said.
City police arrested James J. Tiani, 61, who goes by the nickname “Jimmy the Knife,” following the Thursday evening altercation on the 300 block of West Cunningham Street.
District Judge Kevin O'Donnell arraigned Tiani on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault on Friday. He is in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Police said they were notified about 6 p.m. after the victim called for an ambulance for injuries she reportedly suffered in an assault.
Officers spoke to the woman on the front porch. There was blood on the front of her shirt, police said, and she had blood coming from her nose and lips.
She recounted she and the defendant, her husband, got into an argument, police said, and he punched her several times in the face, chest and left arm.
Police went into the house and found Tiani sleeping in his bed. Police report the officer who woke up Tiani described the man's hands as having blood on them and being swollen.
Tiani's preliminary hearing is set March 30 before District Judge William Fullerton. Online court records did not indicate if he has an attorney.
Court records showed Tiani is awaiting trial on three unrelated criminal cases, two of them involving knives.
In one of those cases, Butler police said, he brandished a knife at a 38-year-old man and 29-year-old woman June 30, 2019, on West Jefferson Street, and told them,“Go ahead and try something.” No one was injured.
Police later found the defendant. A pat-down search turned up a fixed-blade knife in one of his pockets, and officers suspected he was intoxicated.
He is charged with aggravated assault and public drunkenness.
In another pending case, city police allege Tiani exposed himself and made sexual remarks to a woman on East Brady Street on July 8, 2018. He is charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and harassment.
Additionally, he is charged with terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment stemming from a June 9, 2018, arrest in the city.
Butler police said Tiani in that case approached a man on East Jefferson Street and yelled an obscenity and used a racial epithet. The defendant also allegedly threatened to beat up the man, who is black, and then pulled out a pocket knife, according to court document
No one was injured in that incident. Tiani is charged with terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment.
