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Malicious Wounding Charge Upgraded to Homicide When Victim Dies
Posted on Sep 15, 2011
A Radford University student from Chesterfield County, Virginia faces a murder charge in a late-night assault last month in downtown Radford.
Eric S. Czajkowski, 24, a senior majoring in business management, was arrested Friday at his Chesterfield home after a Radford grand jury indicted him on a single count of second-degree murder. He is accused of killing Michael Allen Duncan, 39, during an Aug. 19 encounter, said Radford police Lt. Andy Wilburn.
According to police, Czajkowski was talking with two or three other people on a sidewalk in downtown Radford when Duncan came up to them and made a remark that apparently offended Czajkowski.
"We don't know whether the victim was talking to (Czajkowski) or the other folks that he was standing beside," Wilburn said.
Czajkowski then struck Duncan with his hands or fists, Wilburn said, causing Duncan to fall to the sidewalk and strike his head. Duncan died three days later at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital of a severe wound to the back of his head, Wilburn said.
The injury occurred "when he landed and his head hit the sidewalk," Wilburn said.
Duncan's official cause and manner of death are still pending, a spokeswoman for the state Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke said.
The assault occurred about 11:45 p.m. in the 1400 block of East Main Street in an "area where there are a couple of drinking establishments," Wilburn said. Investigators aren't certain whether Czajkowski had been drinking that night, he added.
Wilburn said there's no indication that Czajkowski and the victim knew each other.
Czajkowski was initially charged with aggravated malicious wounding.
Online court records show that Czajkowski was charged earlier this year with a similar offense. He was arrested Jan. 23 on a malicious-wounding charge that was later reduced to misdemeanor assault and battery and eventually dismissed on April 14, records show.
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Mr. Stelly regularly appears in the courts of the City of Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Goochland County, and Hanover County.
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