24-year-old Wheeler man charged with aggravated battery of an 89-year-old Boyceville woman

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — A 24-year-old Wheeler man has been accused of felony aggravated battery to an elderly person for allegedly breaking into the home of an 89-year-old Boyceville woman and hitting her in the head with her cane.

Daniel D. Schick made an initial appearance in Dunn County Circuit Court June 7 on one felony count of aggravated battery to an elderly person and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia for an incident that occurred June 2 in the Village of Boyceville.

According to a police report obtained from Boyceville Police Chief Greg Lamkin dated June 2, the  woman, who does not wish to be identified, met with the police chief that morning to say she had received an injury to her forearm while fighting with an intruder the previous evening.

At around 3 a.m., the woman had called 911 to report having just forced an intruder to leave her home in Boyceville. Several Dunn County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded and photographed damages to her home. The woman also told Police Chief Lamkin a suspect had been arrested.

Police Chief Lamkin learned from deputies they had responded to subsequent telephone calls of a man banging on a door on Main Street and that the man was located in a hallway, screaming.

When the elderly woman came to the police department, she said she had not realized at the time when she met with the deputies that she had sustained injuries.

Police Chief Lamkin indicated in his report he observed bruising and swelling to the woman’s right temple. The woman said she had gotten up to use the restroom and found a man she did not know in the laundry room next to her bedroom. She said she told him to get out.

The woman said she scuffled with the man, and he took hold of her walking cane and struck her on the side of the head. She said she eventually was able to convince the man to leave her home. The woman said she noticed the man had forced entry into her home and had split the doorframe by her front door.

Complaint

According to the criminal complaint filed in Dunn County June 7, the woman told deputies she had been alone in her residence and was asleep and that she had gotten up and was using her cane to help her walk. She heard someone in the living room, turned on the lights and observed a medium height man, later identified as Daniel Schick.

The elderly woman walked toward Schick in an attempt to get him out of her house. She tried pushing the defendant out of her house through the front door, and as she pushed him, he grabbed her cane. The woman said there was a struggle over the cane, and Schick took the cane away from her. The woman eventually was able to make Schick leave her home by pushing him out the front door, according to the complaint.

Deputies asked the woman several times whether she had been injured or struck, but she denied any injury.

Deputies observed a living room lamp that had been knocked over, and in the kitchen, also observed miscellaneous cooking items, food, garbage and mail scattered on the kitchen floor. In the dining room, deputies observed the woman’s medications scattered on the floor and on the kitchen table. The woman told deputies all of her medications were accounted for, according to the complaint.

Deputies asked if any of the doors had been unlocked, and the woman said she was confident the doors had all been locked prior to her going to bed. The windows of the residence appeared not to be damaged, and the garage service door also was secured and not damaged, according to the complaint.

The front door, however, appeared to have been opened by force, and the deadbolt lock on the door frame was damaged. Deputies asked if the woman had to unlock the door to get Schick out of her house, and she said she thought the door was already unlocked. The woman told deputies the door and the deadbolt had not been damaged prior to the incident, according to the complaint.

Hallway

The complaint goes on to say a short while later, another Boyceville resident called to report a man pounding on her door. The woman believed the man had seen her, and she was too frightened to look outside. The knocking stopped, and then another woman called to say there was a man yelling in the hallway of her apartment complex.

When a deputy arrived, Schick was standing in the hall, yelling.

Schick was not wearing shoes, was confused about where he was and told the deputy he was living in Wheeler. When the deputy asked where in Wheeler, Schick said, “here.” The deputy said throughout his contact with Schick, the defendant would lie and then would immediately deny lying. Schick said he was with someone and then that he had been left alone at the bar, according to the complaint.

Following a consent search of Schick, deputies discovered a small baggie with a green, leafy substance which appeared to be marijuana. Schick also had thrown a pipe on the floor of the hallway that appeared to be a marijuana pipe. The defendant’s shoes later were found in the elderly woman’s kitchen, the complaint states.

The complaint includes the elderly woman’s meeting with Police Chief Lamkin later that day when she reported an injury to her forearm as well as the police chief’s observation of  bruising and swelling of the woman’s right temple and her statement that Schick had gotten hold of her walking cane and had struck her with it on the side of the head.

The complaint notes Police Chief Lamkin met with the elderly woman again on June 5, and she told the police chief she had noticed a bruise on her right side, which she believes she had most likely sustained when she was fighting with Schick while attempting to get him to leave her home and was pushed into the wall and the bathroom door. The elderly woman said she was still sore all over her body, according to the complaint.

Bail

Schick posted a $1,000 cash bail June 5.

The cash bail was set in Dunn County Circuit Court June 2, and conditions of bail are that Schick is to have no contact with the elderly woman and is not to possess or consume alcohol or controlled substances.

Aggravated battery of an elderly person is a Class H felony that carries a penalty of a fine of up to $10,000 and/or six years in prison.

Criminal trespass, criminal damage to property and obstructing an officer are Class A misdemeanors that carry a penalty of a fine of up to $10,000 and/or nine months of incarceration.

Disorderly conduct is a Class B misdemeanor that carries a penalty of a fine of up to $1,000 and/or 90 days in prison. Possession of drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of a fine of up to $500 and/or 30 days of confinement.

Schick is scheduled for another court hearing August 15.