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Former champ Pavlik pleads guilty to disorderly conduct; assault charge dismissed
By Ed Runyan
NILES
Former boxing champion Kelly Pavlik went about five rounds with a Niles prosecutor and walked away nearly unscathed.
Pavlik, 33, of Sugarbush Drive in Canfield, pleaded no contest to one minor-misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct Monday in Niles Municipal Court for an incident outside a concert at the Pine Tree Plaza on April 18 and was fined $50 and court costs.
The show was performed by recording artists the Foo Fighters and their Warren-born frontman, Dave Grohl.
Terry Swauger, Niles prosecutor, dismissed an assault charge and reduced Pavlik’s disorderly conduct from a fourth-degree misdemeanor to a minor misdemeanor.
It was the fifth pretrial hearing in the case since Pavlik’s arraignment hearing. At previous hearings, Pavlik’s attorney, Damian Billak, discussed the case with Swauger and then received permission to reset the case to a later date.
Neither Pavlik nor Billak could be reached after the hearing to comment.
Swauger said he dismissed the assault charge because the victim of the purported assault, Brian Banks, 42, of Canfield, a friend of Pavlik’s, refused to cooperate in the prosecution of the case.
Swauger said he reduced the disorderly conduct to a minor misdemeanor after discussing the case with Weathersfield police officers two weeks ago. The officers said Pavlik did not persist with his behavior after officers spoke to him.
“For it to be a [fourth-degree misdemeanor], he had to continue after he was asked to stop,” Swauger said. “According to the police, after he was asked to stop, he stopped.”
Weathersfield police said they filed the two charges after an officer observed Pavlik throw two punches at Banks behind the plaza, both hitting Banks.
The officer described the punches as “haymakers” and said Banks’ face was red afterward but he did not have any lacerations or swelling. It was difficult to tell if the redness was from the punches or from alcohol use, the officer said.
When officers first approached Pavlik and Banks after observing the punches, Banks said they “were just joking around.” Pavlik also said they were “joking around.”
Pavlik smelled like alcohol, his speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and he was “having trouble standing and walking,” according to the Weathersfield police report.
As officers placed Pavlik under arrest, they noticed blood on his hands. The blood was coming from small lacerations on his hands, police said. Pavlik said he did not need medical attention.
Banks said he and Pavlik had backstage passes for the show, had been drinking beer backstage, that he and Pavlik have been friends “for years,” and he didn’t want to press charges. Banks also smelled like alcohol, the officer said.
Banks’ girlfriend drove Pavlik and Banks home, police said.