Police officer suspended for alleged part in parking lot fight
A Havre de Grace police offer has been suspended while he’s being investigated for his role in a parking lot brawl at a Bel Air restaurant that sent two men to the hospital last month.
Philip Dean Paciocco, 26, of Bel Air, was served a criminal summons on charges of second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first- and second-degree assault. He is one of four people charged in the incident.
The Havre de Grace Police Department was notified of the charges Aug. 27 and suspended Paciocco “of all police duties for the duration of the investigation,” according to a statement from the department. Paciocco was off duty at the time of the incident.
“At this time we have no further information to release due to the nature of the criminal investigation,” the statement says. “The Havre de Grace Police Department is fully cooperating with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and their investigators as they proceed with their investigation.”
Zachary Keith Onesty, 24, and Kyle James Barkley, 22, both of Bel Air, are both charged with first- and second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first- and second-degree assault in the incident. Both were arrested Sept. 3 and are being held without bond at the Harford County Detention Center, according to electronic court records.
Criminal summons were issued for Paciocco and Adam Colton Bartlett, 23, of Forest Hill, who also is charged with one count each of second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first- and seconddegree assault. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Naughty Dogs Pub & Grill on Churchville Road in Bel Air just before 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23. There, they found two 23-year-old men suffering from injuries from an assault.
One of the two men told police he was knocked unconscious, according to charging documents filed in Harford County District Court. Both were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life threatening and are nowrecuperating at home, according to the sheriff’s office.
Kyle Rider, the man who said he was knocked out, was treated at Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore for fractures to his eye socket, nose and jaw as well as a laceration to the back of his head that required four staples to close, according to charging documents.
The other man, Michael Mattes, was taken to University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air where he received nine sutures for a laceration above his right eye, the documents state.
Mattes told police he left Naughty Dogs and approached a group of men in the parking lot, offering them $20 for a ride home. The group became confrontational immediately, he told police, and one person in the group — later identified by a witness as Barkley — suddenly attacked him, according to charging documents.
Rider came to his aid to break up the fight and the group turned their attention to him, the documents state.
Police reviewed video of the assault during the investigation. Investigators noted the video showed Barkely and Onesty land numerous kicks, stomps and punches to Rider’s head, face and body, the documents state. Several times, one of them pins Rider to the ground, rendering him defenseless, the documents state.
The charging documents also note that video shows Paciocco, the Havre de Grace officer, controlling the fight.
“At times Paciocco orders Onesty and Bartlett away from Rider as if he was officiating the fight,” documents state.
Paciocco is seen pinning Rider to the ground in one video clip and punching him while screaming “I’m gonna kill you [expletive],” according to the documents. Then, after being pulled off him by bystanders, Paciocco is heard repeating “I’m your nightmare,” as he walks away, documents state.
As Rider attempted to stand, Barkley allegedly punches him with an uppercut, causing Rider to fall motionless to the pavement, documents state.
A number of people were in the restaurant’s parking lot at the time of the assault, according to the sheriff’s office, and detectives spoke with people who witnessed the altercation. With help from the community, detectives identified and charged four people involved, the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.
Several witnesses interviewed described the four people charged as the “instigators,” and as a group “out looking for trouble,” the documents state.
Electronic court records do not list an attorney for any of the four people charged.