Charges were dropped against a St. John man last month who took his younger brother to beat their mother’s boyfriend after the man allegedly choked her.
The boyfriend said in court documents he didn’t want to pursue the case anymore.
Zac Casalin, then 21, was charged Nov. 8, 2022 with battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 5 felony. The then-boyfriend suffered a broken vertebrae, charges allege.
Judge Natalie Bokota granted Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Lanham’s motion to dismiss on May 31. Lawyer Mark Gruenhagen represented Casalin.
The boyfriend told police he was on W. 93rd Avenue near Kardel Drive in St. John, when he spotted Casalin and his brother, who threatened him. After the man said not to mess with him, the brothers got out of their cars and knocked him to the ground, records state.
The man curled in a ball as the pair continued to kick him, documents state. The pair took his wallet and cell phone. The boyfriend was later taken to the hospital.
It is unclear if the brother was charged, since he was a juvenile.
Not long before her sons confronted him, she was driving when the boyfriend pulled her hair, forcing her to swerve on the road, according to documents.
When they got back to her house, he started slamming doors, then went to her basement and started breaking things, she said in documents. After she told him to get out, he went outside and started dumping things from her vehicle on the driveway, the affidavit states.
After she went outside, he chased her around the vehicle, beat her on both sides of the head and choked her, lifting her up from the ground until she saw “darkness,” she said. The man then took $200 out of her purse inside the car, court records state.
Her son, Casalin, was upstairs and came outside and chased the boyfriend off, she said.
Court records show a man with the boyfriend’s name is facing Level 6 felony strangulation and misdemeanor criminal mischief charges in Lake County against a woman with the same name.
The case is still pending. He was recently arrested for failing to show in court and posted a $1,000 bond May 31.
In that incident, the woman reported the man, her boyfriend, then 22, briefly choked her on June 7, 2022 after an argument outside a Whiting bar. A police officer “separated” them, with the man leaving and the woman going back to the bar.
An hour later, the woman said the man came back, took a bar stool and started breaking out her car windows, the affidavit alleges.
