A 38-year-old Jamestown man is facing a felony weapon charge and a string of misdemeanor counts after police say he threatened to kill two people with a knife during a domestic incident that unfolded in front of three children on the city's east side Saturday afternoon. Angel A. Baez Huertas was taken into custody at the scene and booked into Jamestown City Jail to await arraignment.
According to the Post-Journal, Jamestown Police Department officers and New York State Police troopers responded to an east-side address around 4:40 p.m. Saturday for a report of a person with a weapon. Officers located Baez Huertas at the scene and say he menaced two individuals with a knife, allegedly threatening to kill them during the dispute. The confrontation reportedly took place in front of three children.
Baez Huertas now faces felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of second-degree menacing, second-degree criminal contempt, and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, the station's report states. He was already the subject of an active order of protection covering one of the children present during Saturday's incident, and officers transported him to Jamestown City Jail, where he was being held pending arraignment, per the same account.
Why a Knife Charge Became a Felony
The weapon count against Baez Huertas was elevated well beyond a simple possession charge. Under New York Penal Law § 265.02(1), a person who commits misdemeanor fourth-degree weapon possession while carrying any prior criminal conviction can be charged instead with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, according to Saland Law. That statutory provision explains why a knife-related offense in this case carries felony-level exposure rather than a misdemeanor.
The two menacing counts fall under New York Penal Law § 120.14, which makes second-degree menacing a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in local jail and fines up to $1,000 when someone intentionally places another person in fear of physical injury or death by displaying a dangerous instrument such as a knife, according to the New York State Senate. Separately, New York Penal Law § 215.50 classifies second-degree criminal contempt as a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail for intentionally violating a court order, including an active order of protection — the charge tied to the protective order already in place covering one of the children at the scene.
Child Endangerment and What Comes Next
The three endangering the welfare of a child counts stem from New York Penal Law § 260.10, which makes the offense a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison or three years of probation whenever an adult knowingly acts in a way likely to injure a minor's physical, mental, or moral welfare. Notably, child endangerment charges do not require that a child be physically harmed and are routinely filed when violent disputes occur in a minor's presence.
Under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 510.10, both the second-degree criminal contempt charge tied to a protection-order violation and the Class D felony weapon charge qualify as bail-eligible offenses, meaning the arraigning judge in Jamestown City Court has the statutory authority to set cash bail or order pretrial detention, according to the Center for Justice Innovation. A conviction for second-degree menacing will result in issuance of an order of protection barring contact with the victims, and later contact in violation of that order can lead to re-arrest and new charges, per Jeffrey Lichtman Law.
Domestic Violence Remains a Major Focus for Jamestown Police
Saturday's incident lands amid a sustained local push against intimate partner violence. The department was also allocated $309,815 in state funding through New York's Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Partner Violence grant program, intended to strengthen law enforcement and victim support responses to domestic abuse, per New York State.
The department also runs Project Crossroads, a specialized victim advocacy and case management unit that directly investigates domestic violence reports and helps victims with safety planning and warrant notifications, according to the City of Jamestown. Citywide, the department logged 1,792 total Incident-Based Reporting arrests in 2025, down from 2,589 the year before. All charges against Baez Huertas remain allegations at this stage, pending his arraignment in Jamestown City Court.
