A Somerville man is accused of wielding an ax against a woman in Statue Park.
Officers were dispatched to the Davis Square park shortly before noon Oct. 10 for a call that a man was “chasing people with an ax.” When officers arrived, they saw Mohamed Benaksas, 42, holding a “hatchet-type ax” over his head while yelling at onlookers, according to a police arrest log. Police said they asked Benaksas to drop the ax multiple times before he threw it into the street, when he was restrained by officers.
Benaksas had been earlier arguing with bystanders and had “slapped a cigarette out of someone’s mouth,” police said from witness statements. When told by a woman to stop yelling, Benaksas said he “had something for her,” took out the ax and began swinging it at her, police said. She retreated while others tried to stop the attack, and swung the ax at them while pursuing her, police said…