The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Police: Family feud leads to bat attack
Four Lorain natives are facing charges including felonious assault, burglary and obstructing official business after a family feud got out of hand Aug. 23, according to a Lorain police report.
According to the report, officers responded to a house on the 400 block of West 38th Street at 11:15 p.m. and found a 56-year-old woman lying, injured in the street. The woman, who had a bleeding wound by her left eye, told officers that she was in her home when she heard her front door shatter. When she went to check what caused the destruction, she was pulled from
the house by a “large, white female wearing a green Tshirt.”
The woman was then struck with a baseball bat and collapsed onto the ground. The last thing the woman remembered was being attacked by three females with baseball bats, including her niece Christine Mitchell, 18, and Briana Stevens, 22, the report said.
The woman’s 57-year-old uncle attempted to break up the melee, but was struck
from behind with a baseball bat. As the man fell, he saw a “skinny, white male wearing a black T-shirt with writing on it,” enter the home, the report said.
When officers arrived at Mercy Regional Medical Center, 3700 Kolbe Road, where the woman and her uncle had been transported for treatment, hospital officials advised that two other individuals were in the emergency room with injuries from a fight involving bats, the report said.
Police also discovered a car that matched the description of the suspects’ car in the parking lot. Police secured the vehicle and took its sole occupant, Steven Recznik, 31, into custody.
Officers later came into contact with Stevens, who was being treated for bleeding coming from her ear. She told police that she had been driving around with her mother and Recznik when they took a wrong turn. At that point she claimed a group of people threw rocks at them and began hitting her car with bats. She was then taken by hospital staff for tests, the report said.
During that time, officers were able to locate Samuel Ober, 19, and Mitchell and took them into custody. Both denied being at the altercation, the report said.
When Stevens returned from the tests, she told officers that she had been scared earlier, but was now ready to tell the truth. Stevens’ family and the victims have had trouble in the past, and while driving around with her mother, Recznik and Ober. She also said that her mother had asked to drive past the victim’s home so that “she knew where it was,” the report said.
According to the report, Stevens said that the residents of the victim’s home ran out and began throwing rocks and beating her car with bats. When her mother got out of the car to confront the victims, Stevens claimed that the victims began assaulting her.
Police arrested Stevens, Ober, Recznik and Mitchell.
Mitchell was charged with aggravated riot and felonious assault and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 30.
Ober was charged with obstructing official business. He has a pretrial scheduled for Aug. 30.
Recznik was charged with aggravated riot, aggravated burglary and felonious assault and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 30.
Stevens was charged with felonious assault and aggravated riot, and her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30.
The report said that Stevens’ mother had not yet been charged due to her injuries, but police advised that warrants should be issued at a later date.