BJ Penn's side of the story

Penn's Prelim Hearing Today;
Lawyer Contends Fighter was Pursued by Officer to His Car
By Loretta Hunt

Former UFC Welterweight Champion and current K-1 MMA competitor BJ Penn is scheduled for a preliminary hearing this afternoon in the Waikiki District Court of 7C in Hawaii. The local fighting celebrity has been charged with assaulting District Six Waikiki police officer Richardson Pouoa in the first degree, as part of a multi-person altercation which started outside the Club Zanzabar on May 8th, the site of Rumble On the Rock 7's afterparty proceedings.

In court documents obtained by FCF, Officer Pouoa, working a Special Duty assignment that evening at the nightclub, contends Penn punched him on the "left cheek area of his face" and attempted to flee. At the time, Pouoa says he was attempting to break up a large fight outside the club. Pouoa has stated that Penn and others involved in the fracas did not comply with the Officer's repeated instructions to leave the area and that he deployed police-issued O.C. spray in Penn's direction from a distance of 4 to 6 feet prior to the alleged assault.

"The information that we have is that BJ was trying to leave," Penn's lawyer Michael Green says, "and actually left the car at one point to try and help his brother who was getting the crap beat out of him, and then they went back to the car."

According to an anonymous witness close to Penn that spoke with FCF, the officer pursued Penn to his car and held the vehicle door open, impeding the fighter's exit from the scene. Attorney Green concurs that his witnesses have described the same scenario.

"The cop said something to BJ in the backseat and the cop was standing on the street and BJ had something to say to him and the cop reached into the car and blasted him in the face from probably half a foot full-on with mace," Green explains.

"The one witness who I spoke with who was a security guard, who really didn't know BJ that night, said BJ jumped out of the car like his head was on fire," Green continues. "It looked to her like all he was trying to do was that his arms were waving and he was trying to clear his eyes and get the fumes away from him, and this cop grabbed him. I don't think he had a clue who it was who grabbed him and he had just been punched and kicked earlier. So, there was no intention to hurt anybody and he certainly didn't know it was a police officer."

Penn's preliminary hearing today to determine probable cause in the case should also introduce a circuit court arraignment date. Although Penn's legal representation already entered a "non guilty" plea for his client at his initial court appearance on May 12th, the Honolulu Prosecutor's office said a formal plea will be entered at the arraignment.