A melee in West Scranton that started with men drinking and watching a football game ended Sunday night with the arrest of three brawlers who were too drunk to explain what the fight was about, police said.
Police charged Keith Hoover, 28, 351 10th Ave., Hector Agosto, 33, of 435 10th Ave., and Raymond Beck, 27, of 322 10th Ave., with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. Mr. Beck was also charged with smashing a window on the car of a passer-by who witnessed the fight.
Police responded to a report of a large fight in front of Goodfellas, 349 S. Main Ave., about 10 p.m. Sunday.
When they arrived, they found a large group of people still fighting in the restaurant parking lot. As they began breaking up the fight, people in the crowd alerted them that a smaller fight had broken out and moved to the street and into traffic.
The suspects were in the smaller fight, which forced cars to swerve to avoid them, according to arrest papers.
One motorist, Michael Keslosky, a former Old Forge police officer, stopped his Chevrolet Blazer in front of the fight, police said.
When Mr. Keslosky saw Mr. Beck and Mr. Agosto on top of Mr. Hoover and hitting him, he yelled at them to stop. Mr. Beck responded by smashing the rear driver's side window in Mr. Keslosky's vehicle.
According to arrest affidavits, Patrolman Christian Gowarty tried to find out the reason for the fight but found "all three had been drinking heavily due to an earlier football game."
Mr. Beck and Mr. Agosto were so drunk they slurred their words, had a hard time concentrating on answering the officer's questions and kept insisting they were only defending a friend, according to Patrolman Gowarty. But Mr. Beck and Mr. Agosto were unable to provide any specifics about the friend or his whereabouts. Mr. Hoover declined to tell police anything.
Mr. Hoover, Mr. Agosto and Mr. Beck were all arraigned Monday and are slated for preliminary hearings Oct. 1, according to court documents. All three men were in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail each, according to court documents.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com