An argument between two men in Perry Square in downtown Erie Sept. 10 escalated into a physical confrontation that left a 35-year-old man critically injured and landed a resident of the Erie Community Corrections Center back in jail on attempted homicide and other charges.
Clyde D. Hoskins, 33, accused of repeatedly stabbing the victim in the park, was in the Erie County Prison Sept. 11 on $250,000 bond following his arraignment on the late afternoon of Sept. 10 by Erie 1st Ward District Judge Sue Mack. He faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime and simple assault.
A lawyer for Hoskins was not listed on his criminal docket sheet Sept. 11.
The man he is accused of stabbing was listed in stable condition at UPMC Hamot Sept. 11, according to Erie police. He was in critical condition when he was rushed to the hospital following the stabbing, which was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Sept. 10 in the west park of Perry Square, investigators reported.
Information on a possible motive in the stabbing was not available Sept. 11.
What happened in the park?
Erie police were called to Perry Square on a report of a stabbing victim and said they found the wounded man with numerous stab wounds around his neck and torso. The man was rushed to UPMC Hamot and immediatrely went into surgery, according to detectives.
Police said Sept. 11 that they have not yet had the opportunity to speak to the victim.
Police reviewed surveillance video from Perry Square which they said showed the stabbing victim and another man get into what appeared to be a verbal argument before the other man swung at the victim with what looked like a bladed instrument in his hand. The victim was struck numerous times, investigators wrote in the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint against Hoskins.
Police said the suspect ran off after the attack. Investigators also collected video from Gannon University police that they said showed the suspect traveling north on Peach Street and throwing something into a sewer on the southeast corner of West Fourth and Peach streets. Police recovered a knife from the sewer, according to information in the affidavit.
A city police K-9 officer found in the 100 block of West Third Street a light brown hooded sweatshirt similar to the one the suspect was seen wearing in the video from the park. Police also received information that the suspect might have fled to the Erie Community Corrections Center, 137 W. Second St., and went to the center with an image of the suspect. Employees at the center identified Hoskins as the person in the image, detectives wrote in the affidavit.
Police took Hoskins into custody from the center, according to city police arrest records and information in the affidavit.
More: Erie woman charged with first-degree murder in fatal stabbing of 49-year-old man
Hoskins is listed as being housed at the Erie Community Corrections Center on the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website.
According to court records, Hoskins was sentenced in McKean County Court in March 2024 to serve 18 to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of possession with intent to deliver in a criminal case filed by a McKean County detective in November 2023. He was also sentenced to a consecutive term of one to two years in prison after pleading guilty to felony burglary in a case in Bradford from July 2023, court records show.
Hoskins was listed as a resident of Buffalo in court documents in the McKean County cases.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Corrections center resident charged in stabbing at Erie’s Perry Square