By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — A 24-year-old Cushing woman accused of repeatedly beating her ex-boyfriend’s female acquaintance in the head with a brick has been ordered to appear in Payne County District Court on July 6 on a felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Kirstin Kyndahl Skelnick, who has a child by her ex-boyfriend, could be given as much as a 10-year prison term if convicted, court records show. Skelnick, whose last name has also been spelled as Skelnik, was freed on $150,000 bond with an order to have no contact with the victim, court records show.
Her ex-boyfriend had called a dispatcher at 12:03 am on March 26 and said, “he needed an officer because there was an assault occurring…that his baby mama, Kirstin Skelnick, had hit another woman in the head with a brick,” Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Daryn Zanfardino alleged in an affidavit.
When the victim was interviewed at the Cushing hospital, she said she had been asked by Skelnick’s ex-boyfriend to come over to a house in the 1500 block of W. Main in Cushing “to help him move some of his property and that she encountered Skelnick, who then began to grab her and hit her,” the affidavit alleged.
A friend of Skelnick made a video of the beating, which occurred around midnight on March 26, and provided it to the deputy, his affidavit alleged.
“Skelnick stated that she had gone up to the female on the front porch and, without conversation, grabbed her by the hair, pulled her out of the doorway and began beating her,” the affidavit alleged. In the video, the victim is “on the ground, and Skelnick is standing behind her, holding her with her left hand,” the affidavit alleged.
“The video begins with Skelnick screaming ‘Kill you’ before she is seen striking (the woman) with her right hand approximately seven times. Skelnick hesitates after the seven initial strikes and begins looking around.
“Skelnick bends over, still with (the victim) in her grasp, and grabs an item later identified as a tan brick (ACME BRICK) before she stands back over (her) Skelnick begins beating (her) with the brick, hitting her multiple places on her body including the top of her head, her forehead, her arms, her side, her face and her legs.
“However, most of the strikes appeared to be directed towards the face and the head. There was a point between the strikes that Skelnick was giving when she dropped the brick, paused, and picked the brick back up to continue the beating.
“Skelnick hit (her) approximately 14 times with the brick, and during the beating it was apparent that blood had begun to appear across her face, arms and clothes. Skelnick began yelling at her to leave while she lay on the ground recovering and attempting to get up. Skelnick proceeded to kick her in the stomach after telling her to leave, after which she was able to get to a seated position.
“Blood began to cover her face, as she pleaded with everyone to help her get her glasses, and she expressed that she could not leave without being able to see and her keys. (Skelnick’s friend) is then seen in the video helping for a moment to gather (the victim’s) belongings before she returns to the truck that they arrived in and moves it from where it had been parked to block the driveway from entry and exit. This is where the video ends,” the affidavit alleged.
“During my interview with Skelnick, Skelnick stated that she had been overcome with anger and that she did not remember grabbing the brick, and that even if she had been shown the video, she may not recall it. I asked Skelnick if she thought it possible and probable that (her ex-boyfriend) had invited her over to the residence, and she agreed that it was.
“The front porch of the residence had multiple pieces of blood evidence from where the altercation had occurred, with multiple blood drops throughout the area. There was blood on the storm door all the way to the bottom steps of the front porch and in between.
“I located the brick that had been allegedly used in the altercation, which was identified as a tan-colored brick that had ‘ACME BRICK’ embedded into it,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit. The brick and samples of blood were collected as evidence, the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
Before arriving at the Cushing hospital, the deputy was informed that the victim “had received approximately 8-9 staples in the back of her head to seal up the wound that she had received from the beating. I was informed that (she) was going to have to receive stitches on her forehead for the cut/laceration that she had received, which was approximately over an inch long from her forehead into her hairline.
“She had multiple scrapes on her right arm, starting at her elbow and moving towards the wrist, where she had been struck multiple times with the brick. On her left hand, on her ring finger, there was a trauma impact spot where the finger had begun to swell and was causing blood to ooze out of the finger near the knuckle.
“Once back at the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, I measured and weighed the brick that was utilized by Skelnick to beat (the victim), and the brick was approximately 4 inches by 9 inches and weighed approximately 68.2 ounces,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
