Simpsonville Police Charge Knife-Wielding Man

A Simpsonville man is facing multiple charges after police found him in the middle of a busy intersection yelling at cars and waving a knife, a police report said.

Police said when they arrived after receiving a call about a man with a knife this past Friday night, they observed 32-year-old Matthew Kendall Taylor in the intersection of Grandview Drive and Fairview Road yelling at cars as they passed through and waving and pointing a black knife at the general public, the report said.

Things got a little tenser when Taylor saw police approaching him, the report said. Police said they saw Taylor turn around and kneel for a few seconds before getting up and approaching them with his hands behind his back as if trying to conceal something, the report said. An officer pulled his gun on Taylor and gave verbal commands to stand down before subduing him and finding that his hands were empty, the report said.

Witnesses told police that they were at the Waffle House at 3825 Grandview Drive when Taylor allegedly pulled the knife from the sheath on his belt and proceeding to yell at them, "everyone shut the f… up or I am going to kill you and anyone else who thinks I am playing," the report stated.

The group then alleged Taylor approached a Dodge Caravan and stabbed the right rear tire, before walking behind the Dollar Tree store and into traffic wielding the knife, the report said. The report didn't indicate what prompted the outburst.

Following his arrest, Taylor was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a gun/knife during commission of a violent crime. He was still in the Greenville County Detention Center Tuesday morning in lieu of $10,000 bond.