Waltham man accused of knife assault on 15-year-old released from jail pending further investigation

(ABC 6 News) – A Waltham man accused of using a pocket knife to injure a 15-year-old Thursday night was released from jail Friday without charges.

According to Capt. Casey Moilanen with RPD, a 15-year-old Rochester boy arrived at St. Mary’s hospital with non-life-threatening, “superficial” stab wounds to his neck and thigh around 10:16 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7.

Moilanen said the teenager and witnesses to the altercation said 23-year-old Benjamin Pater had driven to the 15-year-old’s house after an alleged provocation, and called the juvenile out for a fight.

A juvenile female dating the victim told police Pater disliked the 15-year-old habitually, according to Moilanen.

Moilanen said accounts of the fight varied as to which party “swung first,” but they generally claimed that Pater had taken out a pocket knife during the altercation and used it to injure the teenager.

However, the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office requested that Pater be released from jail pending further investigation Friday, Moilanen said.

Pater had allegedly turned himself in to law enforcement after the fight, Moilanen added.