Sarnia police dispatched to a fast-food chicken chain came across a rather unappetizing sight.
Sarnia police dispatched to a fast-food chicken chain earlier this year came across a rather unappetizing sight.
“Officers located a large amount of blood on the floor in front of the cash register inside the restaurant,” Nila Mulpuru, Lambton’s acting Crown attorney, said this week in a Sarnia courtroom.
Police found a man, bleeding and bruised, being cared for by staff in a washroom of the Colborne Road KFC while waiting for paramedics to arrive. While searching for a suspect, officers took a look at the restaurant’s security video footage, which showed another unsavory situation.
David Kaczmarek, 36, from Sarnia repeatedly punching and kicking an unconscious customer who was “unable to protect himself,” Mulpuru said.
The video showed Kaczmarek walk into the family restaurant shortly before 2 pm on Feb. 10 and knock out the man, who had just placed an order, with a punch to the head with his right fist.
“Kaczmarek proceeded to punch the victim several more times with the same fist in the face – while he lay motionless on the ground,” Mulpuru said. “Kaczmarek then proceeded to kick him while still on the ground in the groin region and abdomen area several more times.”
The customer’s eye was cut and swollen but he refused to go to hospital after being assessed by paramedics.
Kaczmarek was taken to police headquarters, where four officers were forced to team up to get him in a cell while he resisted. He’s been behind bars since that Thursday afternoon.
An investigation revealed the two didn’t know each other and the attack was completely unprovoked.
“It was an issue or a situation of a mistaken identity,” defense lawyer Luigi Perzia said. “Doesn’t justify the assault in any way, shape or form.”
Kaczmarek, now 37, pleaded guilty Wednesday from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center to assault and was sentenced to one year in jail. He received another two months for assaulting Sarnia police Const. Jordan Gladwish and one month for mischief with a value less than $5,000 for kicking in a Sarnia motel door, but those awards will run at the same time.
The court did not hear who Kaczmarek thought the man was or why he attacked him. Kaczmarek, who Perzia said has mental-health and addictions issues, was hard to understand as he rambled on for several minutes while given a chance to address the court over Zoom from the London jail.
He did eventually touch on the mistaken identity issue.
“I feel bad for him,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Kaczmarek also recalled a lesson he learned about 20 years ago from his wrestling coach at the former Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical school about owning up to your mistakes.
“I’m owning up to it,” he said. “That’s what our coach always taught us.”
Justice Krista Lynn Leszczynski said an unprovoked attack on a customer in a family restaurant is bad enough, but noted he kept beating his unconscious and defenseless victim.
“Which is especially aggravating,” she said.
Leszczynski also noted assaulting a police officer was concerning.
The court heard police were called on Aug. 30, 2021, about Kaczmarek, who was at the London Road Tim Hortons wearing nothing but a shirt tied around his waist. While attempting to arrest him, Gladwish was punched by Kaczmarek in the back of the head.
The court heard police were called more than a dozen times about Kaczmarek, whose criminal record didn’t start until he was in his mid-30s, amid allegations such as unwanted behavior.
“It is clear that there are two significant underlying issues here: addictions and mental health, which need to be addressed in a comprehensive and meaningful way if the issue of public safety is to be addressed,” Mulpuru said.
Perzia said along with addictions issues, his client has bipolar and schizoaffective disorders and also suffered a brain injury in a car crash. Although reluctant at first, he’s started taking medication while in jail that’s helped balance his behavior, Perzia said.
At the lawyers’ request, the judge recommended Kaczmarek serve his sentence at St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Center in Brockville, although the decision will be up to corrections officials. He has about six months left to serve after getting credit for pre-trial custody.
While in jail and on probation for the next two years, Kaczmarek is banned from contacting the customer and two women. He’s also barred from having weapons for 10 years and was ordered to pay the Sarnia motel nearly $500 for kicking in the door.
Other charges were withdrawn.