Austin man assaulted, survives getting his neck slashed

A man has survived getting his neck cut in an altercation over music at a child's birthday party. 

On November 24, 2019, police received a call from the Seton Southwest Hospital in reference to a man with a stab wound to the neck.

Officers responded to the hospital and met with the victim, a man in his mid-50's. 

According to court documents, the victim had an approximate 4-inch long laceration to the front of his throat. Doctors noted that if the cut had been any deeper, the victim very likely would have died from his wounds. 

According to a witness and victim testimony, the man was assaulted at a birthday party happening at the Country Aire Moblie Home Park located at 8820 W SH 71.  

While at the party, an argument started about music being played between the victim and the suspect, 18-year-old Bryan Orlando Zelaya-Mejia. 

According to court documents, the victim approached Zelaya-Mejia who was playing music out of his mother's car. The victim asked Zelaya-Mejia to change the music when an altercation broke out between the two. That is when Zelaya-Mejia slashed the victim's throat with a "box-cutter" type blade. 

Zelaya-Mejia then continued to threaten the victim, saying that he would "finish him." By this time, Zelaya-Mejia's mother had been called from inside and was pleading with him to drop the blade. 

The witness and others from the party then rushed the victim to the hospital. 

Zelaya-Mejia was arrested about a month after the assault in front of the mobile home park where the assault occurred. He was charged with Aggravated Assualt with a Deadly Weapon, a 2nd Degree Felony.