Ex-pal dares Drew to hit him
BOLINGBROOK | Confrontation outside barbershop pits man who wore wire against the cop in a cloud over dead and missing wives
Drew Peterson turned from suspect to victim Friday afternoon when his neighbor and former friend confronted him in a Bolingbrook parking lot and shoved him.
Len Wawczak, who says he and his wife secretly recorded Peterson for the State Police for seven months, was booked for battery.
(Janet Lundquist/Herald News)
It started at noon Friday when Wawczak's wife, Paula Stark, heard from a TV reporter that Peterson was bragging about sleeping with her.
Stark and Wawczak laughed about it, saying it wasn't true.
But an hour later, when their son Len Jr. called to say Peterson was giving him dirty looks at a Bolingbrook barbershop, Wawczak had enough.
He and Stark got in their van so he could confront the former Bolingbrook cop, who has been under a cloud of suspicion since his fourth wife disappeared last fall.
What followed was an expletive-filled parking lot fracas -- witnessed by reporters -- that resulted in Wawczak, 41, shoving Peterson in the back and getting arrested on a battery charge.
"I wanted to let Drew know he's not going to mess with my family," Wawczak said after his wife posted his $100 bond.
Wawczak and Stark have been under a media siege since the news broke Wednesday that they secretly taped Peterson for State Police investigators probing the Oct. 28 disappearance of Stacy Peterson and the 2004 homicide of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Peterson, who police labeled a suspect in Stacy's "potential homicide," denies having anything to do with either case.
Wawczak and Stark hadn't seen Peterson since the news of their clandestine police help broke. Peterson and his attorney have gone on national TV to call them liars.
Then came the call from Len Wawczak Jr., 20, who was getting his hair cut when Peterson walked in.
Len Jr. told his parents Peterson just gave him dirty looks, they said.
Peterson denies that. "I was just getting my hair cut, and I saw the kid in the chair," he said. "I kind of figured he would call his dad."
Wawczak, intent on confronting Peterson about the dirty looks, found a spot between some cars to lie in wait. When Peterson emerged Wawczak and pounced.
"Hey, m-----f----," he called out. "You ain't nothing but a murderer. I'll beat the f--- out of you. Say something!"
"Hit me," Peterson said calmly, putting his hands behind his back. "I'm going down."
"You ain't nothing but a punk, Drew!"
"Someone call the cops," Peterson told a growing crowd.
Wawczak is due in court Sept. 10. He said he'll leave Peterson alone -- as long as Peterson doesn't mess with his family.
Sun-Times News Group
Contributing: Janet Lundquist