Glenolden man charged in street fight, chokehold

A Glenolden man has been charged in a street fight in West Chester in which he also used a “rear-naked choke hold” on the man he was beating up, police say.

Steven G. Ohara, 27, remained free awaiting a preliminary hearing on two misdemeanor charges: simple assault and strangulation — applying pressure to throat or neck. The are also summary disorderly conduct and harassment charges.

West Chester police gave this account:

About 3 a.m. on April 29, Officer Andrew Hill was dispatched to the first block of West Gay Street for a street fight.

When he arrived a bloodied and bruised man approached.

The victim and a witness told the officer that they were hanging out in front of Buddy’s Burgers when another group came out of a restaurant nearby and walked across the street to an SUV.

The men in the SUV didn’t like that the members of the first group were staring at them, and a passenger in the SUV began yelling at the group in front of the burger joint.

Ohara got out of the driver’s seat and approached the group and the victim met him in the street. Ohara delivered a hard right hand to the victim’s face.

Soon all the combatants jumped in, including some who were trying to break up the fracas, and “the individuals all fell to the ground and the struggle continued until the parties separated a short time later.”

Hill discovered that during the melee Ohara hit the victim several times and put him in that chokehold. The victim said his breathing was restricted when that happened.

The victim suffered a broken finger and needed stitches.

The charging documents and the state district courts online portal spell the suspect’s name with no punctuation.