Girard street fight nets charges

Staff report

GIRARD

A man faces two felonious-assault charges after victims and witnesses told police he hit one man with his car and struck another in the head with a 2.75-pound weight plate.

Lester James Wolfe, 45, of Berlin Center is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. today in Girard Municipal Court.

Police said the assaults happened early Saturday after he was asked to leave Chesty’s Blue Collar Tavern on South State Street.

Police arrived there at 1:20 a.m. to find a man sitting on a bench outside the bar with a minor knee injury. Witnesses said Wolfe was aggravated and drove over the curb in front of the bar to hit patrons standing there. The victim was hit at that time, they said.

Before the second assault on South State, near the intersection with Second Street, three cars were damaged in the rear lot at Chesty’s.

A witness confronted the man who was doing the damage and was told, “That’s how people get shot,” police said.

He could not identify the man as Wolfe, and police said they would investigate further, including reviewing surveillance video from the bar and another business.

Wolfe is not charged with damaging the cars.

A short time later, a police officer saw Wolfe fighting with the second victim, who was lying in the south lanes of State Street with cuts on his head, the report says. He was taken into custody.

The victim told police he saw Wolfe damaging the cars in the lot at 2:15 a.m., confronted him and followed him. The confrontation got violent at State Street. Wolfe produced two 2.75-pound weight plates and began striking the victim in the head, the report says.

Wolfe was arraigned Monday, and he posted 10 percent of a $25,000 bond.