Police: Woman may have been blinded in Dunbar Twp. assault
A Dunbar Township man is in jail and a woman is in the hospital undergoing surgeries in hopes of preventing permanent blindness after an alleged assault Wednesday night.
Eric Joseph Clark, 41, is charged with aggravated assault and simple assault for allegedly punching Phyllis Johnson one time and causing serious damage.
Police were called to the 43-year-old woman’s Dunbar Township residence at 10:30 p.m. She told police she and Clark were arguing when he punched her once in the eye, according to court documents.
A trooper interviewed her physician at Uniontown Hospital, who reported Johnson suffered an “extensive fracture” to her left orbital bone with “severe bleeding” behind her eye.
She was flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh for further evaluation and surgery.
“These injuries will require extensive surgery, and the victim could suffer permanent blindness in the left eye,” Trooper Sean Samsa wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed in Clark’s case.
He was arraigned Thursday morning by on-call Magisterial District Judge Michael Metros. Clark is lodged in Fayette County Prison in lieu of a $10,000 bond.
His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. June 27 before Metros.