Jerry Spiegel
Guilderland cops looking into whether article on restaurant fueled attack
By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer
First published in print: Friday, April 3, 2009
ALBANY -- A professional fighter from Troy has been charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with an attack on a Times Union reporter and his friend as they left a Guilderland restaurant last October.
The arrest of 36-year-old Jerry Spiegel of Troy comes as law enforcement sources said Guilderland police are continuing to examine connections between Spiegel and an Albany restaurant that Steve Barnes, a food critic, had written about last year.
A second assailant involved in the unprovoked attack outside Creo Restaurant on Oct. 17 has not been identified. Barnes, a senior writer who writes reviews on his Table Hopping blog, was attacked in the parking lot at 9:30 that night when he was leaving Creo with a friend, Joshua Carr.
Spiegel is a mixed-martial arts fighter and boxer who has fought locally in the light-heavyweight division. He turned himself in to police late Thursday and was arraigned in Guilderland Town Court on two counts of misdemeanor assault. Bail was set at $1,000. It was not immediately clear if Spiegel posted bail, but he was accompanied by his attorney, Joseph Granich.
Poilce are investigating whether the assault was pre-meditated and may have been set up to retaliate against Barnes for something he reported in the Times Union.
Barnes suffered swelling and abrasions to his face, legs, arms and head.
According to an account Barnes provided last year, he said two assailants approached the men and began throwing punches without speaking. Barnes and Carr both were punched by one of the attackers. A second attacker walked away after striking Carr and the first assailant continued pummeling Barnes for several seconds. Barnes said Carr jumped on the assailant, who got up and walked away as another restaurant patron approached in a car.
The assailants were last seen walking toward Western Avenue, police said.
Police officers interviewed witnesses but there apparently were not any cameras in the Stuyvesant Plaza parking lot where the assaults took place.
Barnes had written in a blog entry prior to going to Creo that he had planned to be there at 7 p.m. that night.
Spiegel has been fighting in mixed-martial arts bouts for about five years and has a record of 10-26-1, according to information listed on mixedmartialarts.com. He is scheduled to fight later this month at an event in Mansfield, Mass.
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