Two arrested in Driggs after woman says they attacked her with knife during her workout

DRIGGS — Two men were arrested Sunday after a woman said they tried to “rape or kill” her while exercising at an apartment complex.

Siakhel Gideon, 34, is charged with felony aggravated assault causing great bodily harm. Joseph Hniar Awi, 34, is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor resisting or obstructing officers.

According to court documents, Teton County Sheriff’s deputies were called to an apartment complex in Driggs on Sunday around 6:20 p.m. after a woman called and said two men had threatened her with a knife.

The woman said that Gideon and Hniar Awi had seen her exercising, and Hniar Awi “came at her with a knife.” She said she was wearing a robe, and the two men had taken it off her.

At that point, she saw that Hniar Awi had a knife and said she was “afraid that (Hniar Awi and Gideon) were going to rape or kill her.”

The woman says she got the knife out of Hniar Awi’s hand and stabbed Gideon in the foot. Gideon then allegedly punched her in the face.

When deputies arrived, they identified the woman who said one of the suspects had left, and the other was inside an apartment. Deputies say that the woman had a scratch on her arm that “appeared to be a defensive mark” along with forearm bruising that “appeared to be in the shape of fingers.”

Hniar Awi then came to the stairs and reportedly began yelling. Deputies tried to speak with him but struggled due to a language barrier.

The woman stated that Hniar Awi was “one of the men who was trying to rape or kill her.” But Hniar Awi told deputies that the woman had tried to kill his friend.

According to police reports, Hniar Awi “continued to not follow commands by trying to move from the area he was told to stand,” so the officer placed him in handcuffs for resisting and obstructing and walked him to a patrol car.

Deputies entered a nearby apartment where they saw a man standing in the front area, and another man, identified as Gideon, sitting on a bed in the living room area. Court documents say Gideon had blood on his face and “a cloth bandage on his foot with blood coming through it.” They also noticed a broken glass bottle of liquor on the floor.

Deputies looked at Gideon’s foot and observed “a single open wound that appeared to be a stab wound.”

One of the deputies asked the woman where the knife was that she had been threatened with, and she showed the deputy a knife on a cake tray inside a refrigerator.

Deputies write in the report that they knew that was not the knife that had been allegedly used to threaten her because of the lack of blood on it. They then tried to talk to Gideon but could not communicate due to the language barrier.

Gideon was then transported to Teton Valley Hospital for his foot injury, and Hniar Awi was taken for a medical clearance. They were later both arrested and booked into the Jefferson County Jail.

Gideon was booked on a $10,000 bond is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 5. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.

Hniar Awi was booked on a $15,000 bond is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 5. If convicted, he could face up to six years in prison.

Though Gideon and Hniar Awi have been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean they committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.