No kidding!
A hot-tempered senior who allegedly freaked out and fatally bludgeoned his elderly roommate during a silly argument over a curtain in their Queens nursing home admitted he did “a stupid thing,” a prosecutor said Friday.
“I did a foolish, stupid thing. I’m going to regret this for the rest of my life,” Thomas Yarnavick, 66, whined to detectives, according to a statement read in court by prosecutor Michelle Kaszuba.
The disabled Yarnavick often bickered with Kailall Singh, 71, since they started rooming together over the summer at the Ocean Promenade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Rockaways.
But this dispute – over whether a curtain dividing their beds in their third-floor room should be open or closed – turned deadly, with Yarnavick using a metal leg rest from his wheelchair to viciously beat the frail Singh to a bloody pulp.
The suspect was found still holding the bloody leg rest near the victim, whose body was lying face up in bed covered in blood, Queens DA Richard A. Brown said.
No nursing home aides were in the room at the time to break the fight up, police said.
The hothead was slapped with second-degree murder and criminal weapon possession charges that could land him behind bars for 25 years to life if he’s convicted.
Queens Criminal Court Judge Donna Golia ordered Yarnavick – who was wheeled into his arraignment wearing a brown corduroy jacket with gauze bandages on his bare chest – held without bail
Yarnavick’s attorney, Anne D’Elia asked that her client get medical attention.