Prosecutors Want Higher Bond For Naperville Teacher's Alleged Killer
WHEATON, Ill. (STMW) -- After stabbing a man in the chest at a packed west suburban nightclub, Daniel Olaska casually took a sip of his beer before walking away, DuPage County authorities alleged Thursday.
The 27-year-old earlier harassed and argued with several different people at Frankie's Blue Room in Naperville before fatally knifing second-grade teacher Shaun Wild and wounding two other men, prosecutors contend in a new legal filing, the Sun-Times is reporting.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, friends and family members attended the visitation for Wild, who was praised as an inspirational educator.
The information about his alleged killer was disclosed as prosecutors asked a judge to raise or revoke Olaska's $3 million bond in an effort to keep him behind bars while he fights murder and attempted murder charges stemming from the Saturday stabbings.
Olaska should remain in custody because new evidence — including frame-by-frame reviews of video shot by nightclub security cameras — shows he was behaving strangely before the 12:45 a.m. stabbings and remains dangerous, DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.
"It shows he's capable of violent and explosive behavior," Berlin said. "Based on the additional information, we feel that he is a danger to the community."
Judge Kathryn Creswell ordered Olaska to remain jailed until a Feb. 17 hearing. She also agreed to allow a forensic psychiatrist to examine Olaska, who authorities said was placed on suicide watch in the DuPage County Jail.
Olaska, manager for a charter flight company based at the Schaumburg Regional Airport, is charged with killing Wild when the 24-year-old teacher stepped in to defuse an argument between Olaska and Wild's friend, William Hayes.
The violence erupted after Olaska exchanged words with Hayes, a North Central College football player who authorities said at one point teased Olaska for drinking beer from a wine glass.
Security camera video shows Olaska swigged his beer before reaching across a table — and around Wild — to plunge a 5-inch-long knife blade into Hayes' chest, the new court filing contends.
Olaska sipped his beer again before leaving the table after the attack, the court documents said.
Wild, a former North Central College football star who taught at Naperville's Spring Brook Elementary School, attempted to stop Olaska from fleeing and died after being stabbed once in the chest, authorities said.
Wild's fatal stabbing also was captured on videotape, though the images aren't as clear as the initial attack on Hayes, officials have said.
Before the deadly altercation, Olaska followed and harassed two women patrons, then argued loudly about the Super Bowl with a man and woman before cursing at the woman, the documents contend.
After the stabbings, he tried to escape from the club by telling police he had been injured in the attacks, prosecutors said in the new filing.
Prosecutors also said they fear Olaska — who has some training as a pilot — could be a flight risk if he is freed.
Defense attorney Brian Telander said he would "vigorously" oppose efforts to change Olaska's bond, noting Olaska has never been arrested or even been in trouble before being charged with the stabbings.
"This is a situation he never thought he'd find himself in," Telander said after Olaska's court appearance Thursday.
A crowd of 1,000 attended Wild's wake and memorial service Thursday at Brown Deer High School in Brown Deer, Wis.
"It speaks to who Shaun is. It speaks to our community, the communities he touched," Wild friend Ellen Gaffrey told CBS 2's Mike Parker.
Wild's funeral was scheduled for Friday.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)