BOARDMAN — The felonious assault charge against Damian Cessna, 24, has been bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury.

Cessna waived a preliminary hearing earlier this week in Mahoning County Boardman Area Court.

Boardman policeman Evan Beil shot Cessna multiple times during a 1 a.m. July 13 confrontation at South Avenue and Mathews Road in which Cessna reportedly had a knife and baseball bat.

Judge Joseph Houser presided over the hearing and forwarded the case to the grand jury, ordering that Cessna’s $15,000 bond remain in effect and that he have no contact with Beil.

Cessna was in the Mahoning County jail on Wednesday.

The night of the incident, Beil stopped Cessna for suspicious activity, including riding on the wrong side of the road at night, Boardman police Chief Todd Werth told The Vindicator shortly after the incident.

When Beil approached, Cessna held a knife in his hand and came toward the officer, a police report states. Cessna also had a baseball bat.

“At some point, the interaction turned into a confrontation,” Werth has said. Beil gave “repeated commands to drop the knife before he discharged his weapon,” Werth said, adding that Beil “feared for his life.”

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