Michael L. Stasiuk understands that he shocked, angered and upset thousands of people with a vicious act of vandalism at Patriots and Heroes Park outside Russell’s Steaks, Chops & More restaurant in March.
He knows that some people think he deserves the worst kind of punishment for vandalizing a tribute park to heroic war veterans and first responders outside the Lancaster restaurant owned by Russell Salvatore, the 90-year-old philanthropist.
But Stasiuk, 20, told The Buffalo News that his crime was a psychotic episode, caused by mental illness rather than any hatred of veterans, first responders or Salvatore.
“I want people to know: I’m sorry for what I did, and that I have respect for these institutions,” Michael Stasiuk said. “Veterans protected our freedoms, first responders protect our neighborhoods every day. Mr. Salvatore is a good man who does all kinds of things for the community.”
Stasiuk said he did not go to the park that night with a plan to destroy Salvatore’s property or cause him harm.
“There was an impulse that took over me that night,” Stasiuk said.
He added that the vandalism attack had nothing to do with the way Salvatore treated him when he showed up at the restaurant a few days before on Feb. 25, seeking to propose a business deal with Salvatore.
“I wanted to talk to him about helping me to market some of my artwork,” Stasiuk said. “He was busy, but he told me that I should come to the restaurant another time and he would talk to me. He was a gentleman.”
Stasiuk and his parents, Natalie and Peter, spoke for two hours on Friday with a reporter at their Lancaster home. The couple said their son has been receiving mental health treatment since 2019, when he was first diagnosed as bipolar, following a series of angry, but nonviolent incidents.
The parents showed a reporter medical records indicating that their son spent more than a month in the Erie County Medical Center’s Psychiatric Behavioral Health…
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