PITTSFIELD (AP) - A Pittsfield man and his brother are facing assault charges after the Pittsfield man was knocked unconscious in a "very bloody" brawl with his brother that involving a machete and a crowbar. Police said Thursday the fight began after 55-year-old Paul Kwasniowski of Pittsfield attacked his brother, 59-year-old John of Las Vegas, at his Pittsfield house Wednesday. John said he disarmed his younger brother by hitting him with a crowbar. Officials said Paul, who ran unsuccessfully for Pittsfield mayor in 2009, was knocked unconscious and was taken to Berkshire Medical Center. Officials said he suffered a skull fracture. John pleaded not guilty Thursday to an assault charge in Central Berkshire District Court. Paul also faces assault charges. It was unclear if the men had attorneys.
If I had a nickel for every brotherly tussle I've had in my life with my inferior in every way younger brother, I'd be rich, and never once did the cops interfere, and that's the way it should have been here.
Sure in our case we were more horse playing than anything, worst thing that could have happened was one of us cracking our head on the fireplace or something (or that one time I caught him in the face with a bat, but that was a total accident) but really it's not all that different from your standard brotherly machete/crow bar fight. In fact, if my parents had been wise enough to keep machetes in the home I'm sure we'd have been delighted to duel.
And I'd still maintain that it would have been none of the police's business. As long as its a fair fight they have the right to work it out amongst themselves. And a machete vs crow bar is as fair as it gets (if the fight had taken place while riding motorcycles it would have been the exact settings of Sega's Roadrash).
