A 21-year-old Lancaster County man who is a student at Penn State has been charged with felony aggravated assault over an alleged downtown State College attack last month that left another man in intensive care with a fractured skull and a brain bleed, according to court records and police reporting published on Friday, November 13.

Source: Onward State

Joshua Musser was charged on Wednesday with one felony count of aggravated assault, a misdemeanor count of simple assault, and summary counts of harassment and disorderly conduct, according to court records cited by both outlets covering the case. The charges are allegations. Musser has not been convicted, and the case will now be tested in court.

Source: Lightner Communications / WRTA

What happened on West College Avenue

The incident happened at about 12:30 a.m. on October 17 in the 300 block of West College Avenue in downtown State College, Pennsylvania. State College Police responded to the scene and found a man lying on the ground, bleeding from his ear and fading in and out of consciousness, according to the criminal complaint summarized in the reporting.

Emergency crews first took the alleged victim to Mount Nittany Medical Center and then flew him to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, for further care. He was admitted to the intensive care unit with a fractured skull and a brain bleed, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

What police say the surveillance video shows

According to the affidavit, surveillance video showed Musser and two friends walk past the alleged victim before turning around and confronting him. Police said Musser delivered a hard strike that knocked the victim unconscious and caused him to hit his head on the concrete sidewalk without bracing himself. Onward State, summarizing the same affidavit, reported that police say Musser then struck the victim again after he was unconscious before leaving the scene.

Musser gave police a different account. He told officers the physical altercation began after the victim lunged at him and after a verbal altercation had already taken place. Police said the CCTV footage did not show a lunge, but rather a light push. That difference between the defendant's account and what police say the video shows is expected to be central when the case is argued in court.

How police say they identified him

Police published a media release seeking information about the incident and later received an anonymous tip identifying Musser, according to the reporting. Officers then spoke to Musser about the incident. According to the Penn State directory cited by Onward State, Musser is a fourth-year undergraduate student.

What happens next is the November 18 preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide whether the evidence is sufficient for the charges to proceed. No trial date has been reported. Anyone reading this case should keep the legal position clear: a criminal complaint and an affidavit describe what police allege happened; they are not findings of guilt.

For State College, a university town where the downtown blocks around West College Avenue draw large late-night crowds, the case has moved in less than a month from a public appeal for help identifying a suspect to a named felony case in court — entirely, on the police account, because surveillance video and a tip from the public connected the October 17 incident to a specific person.