Pleasant Hills police are investigating a brawl at the Pleasant Bar earlier this month involving four off-duty Pittsburgh police officers and an alleged victim who said he was smashed in the head with a beer bottle.
Three of the four city officers, who have not been publicly named and were initially on paid administrative leave, have since returned to work.
Pleasant Hills police Lt. Kristin Mitrisin said Thursday it’s uncertain whether criminal charges will be filed.
“We’re still working on it,” she told TribLive. “It’s still a fluid investigation.”
Allegheny County First Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Spangler said her office is working closely with Pleasant Hills on the case, but she does not know when a decision will be made whether to file charges.
Attorney Casey White, who represents the man who said he was struck by the bottle, said his client met with Pleasant Hills officers on Wednesday to tell his story.
His client, a 36-year-old man who works in IT, said he was visiting what is commonly known as “The P Bar” on Feb. 7 around 6:45 to watch basketball with friends.
Another buddy who he hadn’t seen for several years arrived, and a short time later, White’s client saw the man engaged with a group of men in street clothes who they later learned were city officers.
They began to argue, White said, so his client approached, extricated his friend and escorted him out the bar’s back door.
White’s client then walked back to the group and talked to them.
“ ‘Hey, it’s cool. No worries. We walked him out,’ ” White said his client told them.
That’s when, he continued, the Pittsburgh police officers became verbally abusive, using expletives.
“ ‘He’s going to get knocked the (expletive) out, and I’ll knock you out, too,’ ” White said the men told his client.
“My guy felt threatened,” White said. “He thought he was going to get hit.”
It was his client who threw the first punch, White said.
Moments later, he continued, one of the city officers hit his client over the head with a beer bottle, leaving a 6-inch gash in the middle of his forehead, which will require plastic surgery.
White’s client then went down to the floor, he said, where the group continued to kick and punch him. After he was able to get up, the man was treated by paramedics and taken to a local hospital where he received at least nine stitches, White said. The group of officers left the bar before police arrived that night, he continued.
Although he has not seen it, White said that there was video recovered from inside the bar.
“He felt he needed to protect himself since four or five guys were surrounding him,” White said. “He thought he was going to be imminently attacked.
“It’s all on video so there’s really no hiding.”
An employee at the bar said Thursday they had no comment.
