Man accused of slashing tires, brandishing knife

A 42-year-old man with a California driver’s license was in the Gallatin County jail as of Tuesday on suspicion of threatening people with a knife in Belgrade.

The man, Andrew Anthony Ariaga, was arrested shortly after an investigation that began about 1:54 a.m. March 14 when a Belgrade police officer was dispatched to a parking lot outside JR's Lounge & Casino.

“The reporting party stated a male was slashing tires and someone had been attacked,” reads an affidavit the officer filed in county justice court.

When the officer arrived on scene, Ariaga was reportedly unconscious, bleeding from the nose, and appeared to have just been in a physical altercation.

“I asked if Ariaga was the one responsible and multiple people responded simultaneously stating that he had slashed someone’s tires,” reads the affidavit. “It should be noted that one of the individuals present had the knife and it was placed away from Ariaga.”

Someone on scene reportedly claimed Ariaga emerged from a vehicle and was verbally aggressive with people on scene. A man, referred to in the report as J.A., reportedly told Ariaga to leave, whereupon Ariaga is said to have punched him in the neck. The police officer noted a red mark on the man’s neck consistent with someone who had just been punched.

“J.A. stated that he proceeded to hit Ariaga ‘a few times in the head’ and Ariaga fell to the ground,” reads the affidavit. “After this, Ariaga got up and proceeded to slash three tires on a vehicle that belongs to a friend of J.A. J.A. stated that Ariaga then came at him with a knife in his hand.”

The affidavit doesn’t state what happened next that led to Ariaga being on the ground. It also doesn't indicate whether Ariaga knew the people there or had a motive.

“It should be noted that Ariaga suffered a head injury and appeared to be heavily intoxicated during this incident and was not coherent enough for me to obtain a statement from him,” reads the affidavit.

The officer has advised that Ariaga be prosecuted under state law 45-5-213(1)(b), which makes it a felony punishable by as much as 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for someone to produce “reasonable apprehension of serious bodily injury in another by use of a weapon or what reasonably appears to be a weapon.”