New Kensington man charged with hitting woman with hammer, threatening to kill her

A New Kensington man has been charged with aggravated assault after city police say he chased and hit a woman with a hammer and threatened to kill her last week, according to a criminal complaint.

Ryan Christopher Grabigel, 40, is free on $10,000 bond while awaiting a preliminary hearing before District Judge Jason Buczak in Washington Township. A date for the hearing had not been set as of early Tuesday afternoon.

Grabigel was arrested the day of the incident, which took place at his Edgewood Road home on Dec. 16, police said. He was released from Westmoreland County Prison the following day after posting $10,000 bail.

New Kensington Police Patrolman Perry Sciulli said he was called to the home shortly after 7 p.m. for an assault that had just occurred.

While en route, dispatchers told Sciulli the female victim ran to a neighbor’s house for safety and to call 911, and Grabigel went inside his house.

Sciulli spoke with the woman who was upset, according to the complaint. She provided a voluntary written statement.

The woman told Sciulli she spent the night at Grabigel’s. Grabigel was drinking heavily throughout the day and shoveling driveways. As he was shoveling, she was talking on the phone with her son, the woman said.

After Grabigel was done shoveling, he came inside the house and grabbed her phone. The woman said Grabigel began threatening her and her son. Her phone broke at some point during the incident, according to the complaint.

The woman said Grabigel started coming after her with a hammer, and threatening to kill her. Grabigel threw the woman on the floor and hit her with the hammer, according to the complaint.

The woman told Sciulli that Grabigel ripped her shirt and chased her with the hammer until she got to the neighbor’s house to call police.

Sciulli observed fresh marks on the woman’s neck, back, shoulders and both knees, according to the complaint. She declined medical attention.

After talking with the woman, Sciulli said he saw Grabigel standing outside on the street heavily intoxicated. Grabigel was arrested without incident, taken to the New Kensington police station, and lodged in a cell there.

A preliminary hearing was originally going to be held before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. in New Kensington, but Pallone recused himself because Grabigel is his sister-in-law’s son, according to Christopher Haidze, special courts administrator for Westmoreland County.

Grabigel also faces charges of terroristic threats, criminal mischief and public drunkenness, according to online court records.