A haunted house actor accidentally stabbed an 11-year-old visitor with a large Bowie knife in an attempt to scare him.
On September 25, Frank, 11, went to the popular horror attraction 7 Floors of Hell in Berea, Ohio.
When Frank went in, he came across haunted house actor Christopher Pogozelski, 22, dressed in character and holding a large Bowie knife.
According to the witnesses, Pogozelski was using the knife as a prop to scare people outside the haunted house by dragging it on the ground in front of them.
However, things got out of control when Pogozelski began to stab the ground and accidentally stabbed the 11-year-old’s foot.
Berea police officers then responded to the scene at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds at around 8:15 PM following reports that a male had been stabbed in the foot.
Karen Bednarski, Frank’s mother, recently told News 5 Cleveland that her son was visiting the haunted house with his sister and family friends to have some good, scary fun when the Pogozelski walked up to him holding the knife with ‘intentions to scare him’.
“My son responded to him by saying, ‘that’s fake, I’m not scared,” Karen told News 5.
Karen said that Pogozelski began stabbing the ground around Frank’s feet in response. But the actor got too close and ended up stabbing through Frank’s sandal, cutting the side of his big toe.
After the 11-year-old alerted an adult about the situation, the police were called to the scene and confiscated the knife from Pogozelski.
News 5 reported that the actor admitted that ‘using the knife was not a good idea and that the injury was an accident’.
But Frank’s mother has reportedly disputed the claim of the incident being an accident.
Meanwhile, Rodney Geffert, the president of Night Scream Entertainment, which owns 7 Floors of Hell, said the actor ‘got a little too close’.
“It was a complete accident and poked the boy’s toe,” Geffert said.
Geffert said that Floors of Hell imposes ‘strict rules and protocols’ which restrict the actors to use rubber and foam props and that Pogozelski ‘did something he wasn’t supposed to be doing’, CNN 7 reported.
“He went to his car and did this of his own free will and we don’t tolerate or put up with that,” Geffert added.
Geffert said that Pogozelski has since been let go from his job at the haunted house, adding that he hopes that customers understand that Pogozelski’s actions do not reflect their business.
Lt Tom Walker from the Berea Police Department has also confirmed that Pogozelski has been charged.
Walker said he couldn’t explain why the actor brought a real knife, noting it was ‘obviously a poor decision on his part to bring a real knife to the fairground’.
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