The Attack of the Cactus Plant. No excuse necessary.
“Authorities aren’t sure why Radzicki allegedly attacked the woman.â€
So said Sheboygan, Wisconsin County District Attorney Joe DeCecco in describing an attack by Nathaniel S. Radzicki on his live-in girlfriend”with a cactus plant. According to the woman, Radzicki “went psycho. He acted like he was possessed, like he was the devil.”He faces felony battery charges for the attack, during which he also bit his unnamed girlfriend, leaving her “covered in blood.”She had half-inch cactus thorns stuck in her neck, face and arms that had to be removed by hospital personnel.
According to the complaint, Radzicki was upset over phone calls made earlier in the evening. Of course he had been, according to DeCecco, “drinking.”While there were no previous convictions for violent offenses, he was cited twice in June 2005 for disorderly conduct.
The comment by authorities is a common one. It is misleading because the bizarre behaviors are likely to be construed by the uninitiated as having been provoked by an argument or other disruption. Yet, the odds are very high that if he didn’t have the disease of alcoholism, whatever occurred during his phone calls would have been handled in a mature manner rather than an uncivilized one.
The correct explanation is probably, “Radzicki has alcoholism, which causes him to act destructively some of the time. His particular style took form, at least in this instance, in a bizarre attack on the woman who, when sober, he may well love.”Proper consequences should include jail time, but more importantly alcohol and other-drug testing for a number of years as a condition of early release and probation. Unfortunately, he’ll probably end up in prison, untreated and untested for his disease. And far greater tragedies may well occur in the life of Nathaniel S. Radzicki and the lives of those who are unlucky enough to come into contact with him.