Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.policemag.com/341089/reconsidering-carotid-control">Ron Martinelli/Policemagazine.com</a>

Carotid artery restraint

Javier said he was on the phone with 911 while he walked toward the fight, and he told the attacker to “Let go” of the man on the ground, but when the attacker turned away from his original victim he walked toward Javier.

It was still dark about 5 am on January 26, when Javier heard someone yelling for help. The witness was standing outside a Vons on El Norte Parkway, and he looked toward the CVS store nearby where he saw a tall man hitting and kicking a man on the ground. Javier had never seen either man before.

Javier retreated back towards the Vons when the violent stranger came towards him, and then he passed, and then the strange man started to attack the glass door of a beauty salon. “He kicked it three times to break it,” Javier testified in court on May 16. The strange man went inside the salon through the broken door, was inside for a minute or so, and then he came back out.

Escondido police quickly arrived at the strip mall at 318 West El Norte Parkway. Officer Daniel Orr said they suspected the offender might be schizophrenic or have some other kind of mental problem, because they had received a series of phone calls in recent hours about this particular suspect and his bizarre behavior.

Anthony John Pavia, 27, is described in jail records as 6 feet 4 inches tall and 200 pounds. He was arrested that same morning and is currently held in lieu of $65,000 bail. He has a previous arrest for two misdemeanors, trespass and unlawful noise.

That early Saturday morning, a witness told cops she heard the tall man “yelling nonsensically” before he attacked a man who was doing work emptying trash cans in front of the CVS store. Then the attacker was “laughing” when he walked away, she said.

Several Escondido police officers got into a scuffle with the suspect, according to their testimony on Thursday, May 16, 2019. One officer got a cut on his nose and bruised knees and cuts on both hands. The suspect grabbed one officer’s baton, and ignored officer’s commands, and refused to be detained until one officer used a “carotid restraint” which caused the fractious man to go unconscious. Officers were then able to handcuff their suspect during the “five seconds” he was limp, one officer said.

A defense attorney asked officer Nathan McCann to describe “a carotid restraint.” He said this technique involves an arm around the subject’s neck and blood circulation is restricted which causes a person to lose consciousness. He said it is department policy to have paramedics come and assess the subject after use of the carotid restraint.

One officer said he reviewed video surveillance from the beauty salon and saw the suspect rip lamps from the walls and break a ceramic vase there.

Prosecutor Nichelle Constanzer told the judge that the beating victim suffered fractures to his facial bones, his teeth were so loosened that he still has problems eating five months later, and he suffers dizziness and blurred vision.

A defense attorney argued that there was not great bodily injury in this case, because the victim did not suffer loss of any teeth, and none of his injuries were permanent. She further argued that the mental health problems of the young man were such that he was not even aware that he was being confronted by law enforcement officers.

Judge Jacqueline Stern reviewed hospital records and noted that the 50-year-old victim was in hospital for three days. She ordered Anthony Pavia to answer all charges, including felony assault with great bodily injury, and felony assault on police officers, and misdemeanor vandalism. Defendant Pavia pleads not guilty to all charges, and is next due in court on June 13 to confirm a date for trial.