Haunted House Stabbing: 11-Year-Old Boy Knifed After 'Actor' Brought Real Blade To County Fair Attraction

A county fair participant in Cleveland faces a negligent assault rap after bringing a real knife to a haunted house and accidentally stabbing the toe of an 11-year-old boy on Saturday, Sept. 18.

Christopher Pogozelski, a 22-year-old actor who was working at the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house in Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, has been charged with negligent assault by the mother of the boy he accidentally stabbed, according to News 5 Cleveland.

“He walked up to my son and he was holding the knife and his intentions were to scare him, but my son responded to him by saying, ‘That's fake. I'm not scared,’” Karen Bednarski, the mother of the 11-year-old boy, said about the incident.

Pogozelski then reportedly started stabbing the ground with his real Bowie-style knife when he slashed the boy’s red Crocs and ended up cutting the child's toe. The police were then called, who helped apply first-aid on the boy's toe before calling his mother to the haunted house grounds, according to Law&Order.

“I guess he got a little too close. It was a complete accident and poked the boy’s toe,” Rodney Geffert, the President of Night Scream Entertainment, said about the incident. “The police took the knife and I made it real clear with him, you don't go to your vehicle and get something out like that.”

The 11-year-old boy was with his friends and still entered the haunted house in spite of his injuries. Geffert says that Bednarski excitedly asked for a free ticket to the ride, while Bednarski said that she was given the ticket after she refused to leave her son.

Pogozelski's mother asked for his knife back, which they said would be returned promptly if criminal charges were not pressed. Bednarski, later on, decided to pursue charges against Pogozelski.

“The biggest thing for me is, you know, I don't understand the mental state of this man. There's got to be something wrong with him, and he should not be working at an establishment like that,” she said, questioning Pogozelski’s mental health.

It is not known as of press time if Pogozelski has been fired from his job at the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house.