An Acton man is accused of threatening his mother and sisters, who asked that he offer them a ride.

An Acton man was intoxicated and angry about a request to bring his mother and teenage sisters to the local YMCA to shower when he drove erratically through Sanford, confronted other drivers and threatened to assault his mother with a knife, the York County sheriff said.

Emanuel Slobada

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Saunders Lane and Foxes Ridge Road area of Acton on Tuesday evening by a woman who was hiding from her adult son after he threatened his sisters and went after her with a knife, Sheriff Bill King said. Emanuel Slobada, 30, was arrested a short time later.

The woman told deputies that she moved to Acton a couple of months ago with her daughters, ages 14 and 18, to live with Sloboda and his girlfriend in his mobile home. Their pipes froze recently and the women asked Sloboda to bring them to the Sanford YMCA to shower. The request “seemed to anger the intoxicated man,” King said.

As they returned from the YMCA about 6 p.m., Slobada was operating his Chevrolet Blazer erratically. Witnesses told police that he was tailgating other cars, driving in the wrong lane and confronting other drivers who honked or motioned for him to move. At one point, he followed a motorist into a Rite Aid parking lot and confronted them, King said.

“(Slobada) had been threatening suicide recently and Emanuel reiterated that threat during the ride,” King said. “Fearing for their safety, the women begged him to stop the vehicle so they could get out, but that seemed to anger Emanuel.”

Once he turned onto Saunders Lane in Acton, Slobada allegedly took out a knife and threatened his mother for “telling him to stop the car,” King said.

“The terrified women fled the vehicle once it stopped and sought refuge at a neighbor’s house on Foxes Ridge Road. Unfortunately, the women did not find anybody home at the residence but called the sheriff’s office to summon assistance,” he said.

The three women hid behind the neighbor’s house until deputies arrived.

Slobada was arrested for domestic violence terrorizing, a Class C felony. He is being held without bail at York County Jail. He made his initial court appearance via video arraignment Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in York County Superior Court on Feb. 9.

King said Slobada was arrested for a similar offense in June 2017. In that incident, Slobada was arrested for contacting a woman he was prohibited from being around following a prior domestic violence charge.

Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:

ggraham@pressherald.com

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