Updated on July 15
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Delaware County man is facing several charges after attacking another man with a bat at a gas station last week, then defecating in a holding cell following his arrest.
Prospect Park Police Chief David Madonna said the attack happened just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8, when 33-year-old Brian Taylor walked into the Marathon Gas Station Mart on Chester Pike and assaulted a man with a bat.
“The victim stated he had no idea who the person was or why he was swinging a bat at him,” Madonna said. “He was just sitting there minding his own business and was assaulted.”
The attack, he said, appears to have been a case of mistaken identity.
Surveillance video shows a man, identified by police as Taylor, swinging wildly at the victim at least three times before chasing him off camera. Multiple people in the store at the time are also seen dodging his swings.
The video was posted to Facebook by Prospect Park Police Chief Dave Madonna.
Taylor, who lives across the street from the gas station, had driven to the store. Investigators used surveillance video to identify his license plate number and find him.
Authorities said the victim sustained "significant injuries" and that Taylor chased him through heavy traffic on Chester Pike after he fled the gas station mart.
When officers arrested Taylor at his home, they recovered the bat used in the assault.
But the situation didn’t end there.
“As we brought him back to the station here, he did defecate into a holding cell,” said Madonna. “There was a toilet for him to use. He just chose not to use it.”
Madonna said that the incident created a hazardous cleanup situation, requiring professional cleaners. It comes just a few months after a woman in Prospect Park defecated on a car in a road rage incident.
“Did I pair the two together? Not initially, however, it is a concern,” said Madonna. “People do some pretty horrible things when they are at their lowest. That’s what we’ve been experiencing lately.”
Taylor is facing aggravated assault, simple assault, and institutional vandalism, among other charges.