A Burlington resident has been jailed on a long list of felonies after he allegedly choked and stabbed his wife before he turned his aggression on the police officers who tried to intervene in the attack.
Ali Asghari Sandi was ultimately taken into custody on Thursday evening after a violent outburst that has given rise to more than a dozen felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and assault on a law enforcement officer.
According to Burlington’s police department, the 41-year-old’s rampage began with a savage attack on his wife – 38-year-old Haniyeh Khodaverdian – at the couple’s home at 1522 North Mebane Street. The police department notes that Sandi had stabbed his wife before officers arrived on the scene at about 10:45 p.m. Once the first units appeared, Sandi shut himself and his wife inside the home and turned out the lights as officers scrambled to get into the dwelling.
“An officer breached the door to gain access to the victim,” the police department goes on to relate in a subsequent account of the incident, “and was immediately splashed with gasoline from the suspect.”
According to the department, Sandi also charged at the officers with a knife during the confrontation. “In an effort to control the suspect and intervene in his attack toward the officers,” the officers ultimately sent in a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois named “Talon,” who ended up taking the full brunt of Sandi’s assault.
“Unfortunately,” the department adds in its account, “Talon was injured (stabbed) in the incident and several officers received minor injuries.”
Brian Long, an assistant chief with the department, went on to note that there were no life-threatening injuries sustained by any of its personnel, whether human or canine. Long added that “Talon” and his fellow officers had all been released from the hospital by Friday.
According to the police department, Khodaverdian was also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after “this particularly violent incident.” Meanwhile, her husband was taken to Alamance County’s jail, where he is currently incarcerated under a cumulative bond of $1,180,000. Among the charges that have been filed against Sandi are attempted first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, assault by strangulation, and two counts of child abuse. The suspect also faces three felony counts of assault on a government official with a deadly weapon, seven felony counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with physical injury, one felony count of assault on a law enforcement agency animal, one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon leading to serious injury, and three misdemeanor counts of assault on a government official.
