Assault charges against ex-Pioneers dismissed

PITTSTON – Testimony from two Wilkes-Barre officers that they had direct knowledge of an alleged assault involving two former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneer players outside a nightclub in July was not enough Thursday to send the most serious charges against the two men to court.

Officer Stanley Wychock testified he saw Justin Parrish, 25, knock Nichole Allen unconscious and Jason Acquaye, 24, attempt to start a riot outside Caf� Luna on July 9.

Officer Joseph Ziegler said he saw Allen fall to the ground, and Acquaye enticing a large crowd that surrounded officers.

But after a nearly three-hour hearing, District Judge Fred Pierantoni of Pittston threw out aggravated assault, simple assault and escape charges against Parrish, and dismissed riot and failure to disperse charges against Acquaye.

Pierantoni did forward charges of disorderly conduct and harassment against Parrish and three counts of disorderly conduct against Acquaye to county court.

Parrish and Acquaye, and their attorneys, Frank Nocito and Mark Bufalino, respectively, waited patiently for more than six months for the hearing that was continued six times since police filed the charges on Aug. 13.

The hearing was reassigned to Pierantoni after District Judge Martin Kane recused himself.

Upon questions from Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney William Dunn, Allen testified she was in Caf� Luna when her boyfriend was accused of waving a gun inside the nightclub, initiating a response from nearly a dozen police officers.

After a gun was not found, Allen and her boyfriend were walking away when, she said, her boyfriend was attacked by two men.

Wychock said he was speaking with Parrish in the rear of Caf� Luna when Parrish bolted after a man and began punching him. Wychock said Allen placed her hand on Parrish’s shoulder when Parrish turned around and he punched her.

Ziegler testified he saw Allen hit her head on the sidewalk and Parrish attempting to escape.

Parrish stopped running and was handcuffed by Wychock and Ziegler in a nearby parking lot as a large crowd gathered, Ziegler testified.

He said the crowd was ordered to leave, but Acquaye returned several times yelling and pointing at Wychock.

Matthew Basso, called as a witness by Parrish’s lawyer, Nocito, testified he saw Allen punching Parrish and Parrish slightly turning around when he punched Allen in the face.

Nocito argued Parrish defended himself because someone aimed a gun at him and pulled the trigger three times inside Caf� Luna. Acquaye’s lawyer, Bufalino, argued his client yelled to the crowd only “Look at what they’re doing to me.”

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