Sheboygan- A 22-year-old Sheboygan man was charged Thursday for allegedly attacking his live-in girlfriend Wednesday night with a cactus plant and biting her, leaving her “covered in blood,” according to a criminal complaint.
“I thought I’d seen everything … but a cactus beating, jeez,” said Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco. “I guess it’s the thing that was closest at hand.”
Nathaniel S. Radzicki was charged with felony substantial battery and misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He faces almost a decade behind bars for the alleged beating because the district attorney applied penalty enhancers for use of a “dangerous weapon” and domestic abuse.
“Nathaniel went psycho. He acted like he was possessed, like he was the devil,” Radzicki’s girlfriend told police, according to the complaint.
DeCecco said authorities aren’t sure why Radzicki allegedly attacked the woman. According to the complaint, the girlfriend said Radzicki was upset over some phone calls he had made earlier in the evening but otherwise could not explain the attack.
“He was drinking, he got depressed … and he just lit off on her for some reason,” DeCecco said.
Police were called to the couple’s south-side apartment about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday after a passerby reported hearing a woman yell, “Stop it, you’re hurting me,” according to the criminal complaint.
DeCecco said the police had to threaten to use pepper spray on Radzicki before they could take him into custody, and he still was out of control at the police station.
“He was yelling and screaming and kicking at the doors,” DeCecco said, citing the police report.
Radzicki’s girlfriend told police that Radzicki attacked her with the cactus while she was doing dishes in the apartment they shared. The attack was unprovoked, she told police.
The woman had half-inch cactus thorns stuck in her neck, face and arms that medical staff had to remove with tweezers, the complaint said.
“Apparently the cactus was just the size of a baseball,” said Sgt. Scott Mittelstadt of the Sheboygan Police Department. “It just had longer spikes which ended up getting stuck in her.”
She also suffered a “very large” bite mark on her left forearm, a ruptured eardrum, a deep cut in her upper lip that required several stitches and bruises on her face and jaw, the complaint said.
The two have known each other about six months and had been living together about a month, according to the complaint,
If convicted, Radzicki faces nine years, three months in jail and fines of up to $11,000.
Radzicki has no previous convictions for violent offenses, but was cited twice for disorderly conduct in separate incidents in June.
He is in Sheboygan County jail on $10,000 cash bond and is due in Sheboygan County Circuit Court on Nov. 23 for a preliminary hearing.