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.
