Petaluma man accused of assaulting elderly man, striking him with his own cane
A man was recently arrested in Petaluma after allegedly assaulting another man over a cigarette.
Early on the afternoon of April 8, officers responded to the south end of Hopper Street to investigate an alleged assault. Officers spoke with a 76-year-old man they found sitting in a nearby field, and learned that he’d been involved in an altercation with another man, identified as 58-year-old Telesfaro Duran.
Duran had allegedly assaulted the victim after becoming upset with him over a cigarette, striking him several times in the face causing lacerations and beating him with his own cane, police said.
Officers located and detained Duran at a nearby encampment. Though Duran denied the assault, the victim’s injuries and a witness statement ultimately led to Duran’s arrest on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse. He was booked at the Sonoma County Jail.
