FLORENCE, Wis. - A Brookfield, Wis. man was bound over on one felony count of substantial battery following a preliminary examination Tuesday in Florence County Court.
Gregory W. Gnatzig, 54, will appear for arraignment on Feb. 28. He is currently out of jail on a $500 cash bond.
According to the criminal complaint in the case, Gnatzig allegedly hit 44-year-old Robert Johnson of Fond du Lac, Wis. at the Call It What U Want bar in Florence on Dec. 17.
In the complaint, Gnatzig, Johnson, and witnesses gave conflicting accounts of what happened. Gnatzig claimed that Johnson first hit him with a bottle, but Johnson and his girlfriend both claimed that Johnson did not provoke Gnatzig in any way.
Gnatzig did not testify during the preliminary examination, but Johnson and his girlfriend did.
Johnson's girlfriend testified that Gnatzig called her an expletive while he was walking past her to leave the bar. She said that Johnson then asked Gnatzig why he said what he said. Gnatzig then punched Johnson in the
jaw, she said.
She added that Johnson was unconscious for five to ten minutes.
"I thought he was dead," she said.
Johnson testified that he did not remember the incident. He said that he remembered talking to his girlfriend in the bar and he remembered waking up on the floor of the bar.
Johnson added that he sustained two fractures and nerve damage to his jaw.
Judge Leon D. Stenz determined that there was sufficient evidence to find probable cause that Gnatzig committed the felony as charged. Probable cause does not indicate guilt.
Nikki Younk's e-mail address is nyounk@ironmountaindailynews.com.