Brian Nowak

A Dunkirk man who police say struck another person in the head with an ax is in Chautauqua County Jail.

Officers with the Dunkirk Police Department were alerted at about 2:35 p.m. Saturday of people “smashing out windows, going at each other” with an ax and bat on Central Avenue. However, before officers arrived it was learned that 33-year-old Brian L. Nowak had left the area and that another person — also a Dunkirk resident — had gone to Brooks Memorial Hospital.

According to scanner reports, the man had been struck in the side of the head with an ax during the encounter. A witness reportedly told police that they saw a person rush inside Brooks.

The hospital also alerted authorities that a man at the facility had a head injury. An update on the man’s condition was not released Monday.

Nowak was taken into custody on a charge of second-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury and arraigned in Dunkirk City Court. He was being held in county jail on $20,000 cash bail.

The Dunkirk Police Department released information Monday on the altercation after a freedom of information request was submitted by The Post-Journal.

In May of this year, Nowak was charged by Dunkirk police with second-degree menacing, though no details were released at the time. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in Dunkirk City Court on Sept. 29 on the menacing charge.