A judge has ordered a man to pay $7,387.82 in medical costs to Andrew Valencia, a gay candidate for the Sweetwater Union High School Board in 2010, for punching him in the face.
Andrew Fisak, 26, is serving his 270-day sentence in a work furlough facility which allows him to go to work during the day at a restaurant, but he is locked up at nights and on weekends. He appeared last week before Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sontag.
Valencia, 30, had to get root canal treatment for displaced teeth and stitches to repair a split lip after the Oct. 24, 2010, incident, at a Jack in the Box restaurant around 1:35 a.m. in Imperial Beach. Valencia didn’t have medical insurance and said he charged a $4,000 dental bill on a credit card.
Valencia said a sentence in work furlough was better than Fisak sitting in jail because he will be working and able to pay him back. He called it “a more productive use of taxpayers’ money.”
“I don’t know what his motive was, if there was a motive,” said Valencia about being punched.
Valencia ran against incumbent Arlie Ricasa in the non-partisan race of the Sweetwater Union High School Board in the Nov. 2 election which she won with 58 percent of the vote. Valencia said he will run for office again.
Fisak and Valencia didn’t know each other before Fisak punched him. A restaurant worker testified he thought Fisak was intoxicated. Fisak’s attorney told the judge the incident was not politically motivated. Fisak pleaded guilty to felony battery with serious injury.
