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Man whose St. Patrick's Day arrest was put on YouTube appears in court
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A man whose arrest during Saturday's rowdy St. Patrick's Day revelry was captured on YouTube made his first court appearance on a string of criminal charges Tuesday, his face bruised.

Michael Georgiana's attorney, Carl Parise, asked a magistrate judge to postpone his preliminary hearing on charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, defiant trespass and public drunkenness.

The video shows a violent confrontation on Saturday between Mr. Georgiana, 24, of Uniontown, and several Pittsburgh police officers, who stun him with a Taser and punch him in the head more than once. Mr. Georgiana can be seen bleeding from his head onto the floor as officers handcuff him.

The video captures the end of the scuffle, but not the events leading up to it.

Police officers responded with force because Mr. Georgiana, who appeared "highly" intoxicated, was combative, at one point kicking at Officer Matthew Turko's legs, according to his criminal complaint.

"It doesn't portray anyone in a good light, but it is what it is," Mr. Parise said of the video. "We're in this high-tech world, where once someone puts it out there, you don't get it back."

Police encountered Mr. Georgiana when they were called to a fight at the Bar Room in Station Square, "which was packed with intoxicated patrons wearing green for St. Patrick's Day," Officer Turko wrote in the complaint. A bouncer was restraining Mr. Georgiana, who was screaming threats as the bouncer told him to leave. Instead of leaving, the complaint says, he tried to escape the bouncer and tried to fight "several unknown individuals."

"It was a very chaotic scene," the officer wrote.

When he saw police, Mr. Georgiana initially agreed to leave, but as they followed him toward steps near the exit, he began "screaming and flexing (as if he were doing a cable cross exercise for his pectoral muscles)," the complaint said. He then threw a bar stool, and once on the steps, he "grabbed a handful of glass beer bottles and threw them down the steps."

"After this he stopped and turned toward me," Officer Turko said, "screamed and glared at me with fists clenched." The officer said he grabbed his shirt and tried to get him down the steps by "pushing against him," but he lost his grip when Mr. Georgiana crouched down. Mr. Georgiana then slipped on the steps and "lunged back toward" Officer Turko's legs, prompting the officer to "protect my legs from the actor by pushing the side of his head, causing him to fall down the remainder of the steps."

At the bottom of the steps, Mr. Georgiana "kicked at" Officer Turko's legs, causing him to fall down, so the officer punched him in the head, he wrote. Mr. Georgiana "continued to kick - to protect myself, I punched the actor again twice" in the head, the officer said.

Other officers had arrived to help control Mr. Georgiana, and he resisted them, the complaint says. They stunned him with a Taser before he "finally became compliant" and they were able to place him in handcuffs.

Mr. Georgiana was treated for injuries at UPMC Mercy before he was taken to the Allegheny County Jail.

"It is unknown if the blood was the result of him being punched or him falling," Officer Turko wrote.

Mr. Parise said the incident was a learning experience for his client.

"It is a difficult learning experience, but one that will last for the rest of his life," he said.

Mr. Georgiana declined to comment to reporters.

Sadie Gurman: sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
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First published on March 17, 2010 at 12:00 am