Charges dropped against Arnold code officer, 2nd man involved in brawl after both decline to testify

Charges were dismissed Thursday against two men involved in brawl outside a firefighters club in Arnold after they decided not to testify against each other.

One of the men, Albert Colelli Jr., 51, of Arnold, faced a felony count of aggravated assault along with simple assault and disorderly conduct in connection with an April 15 fight outside the Arnold No. 1 Firemen’s Club on Fifth Avenue.

Colelli is Arnold’s code enforcement officer and was allowed to continue working following his arrest. He was suspended from his post as president of Arnold Volunteer Fire Company No. 1.

The other man involved in the fight, Mario Ciuffoletti, 71, of Oklahoma Borough, was charged with misdemeanor counts of simple assault and disorderly conduct. Ciuffoletti resigned from Oklahoma’s planning commission after he was charged.

During a preliminary hearing Thursday before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr., attorney George Duke Jr., who represented Colelli, and Ciuffoletti’s lawyer, Patrick Thomassey, said their clients were declining to testify against the other because the statements they would make could be self-incriminating.

The district judge noted that the right to not testify against yourself in criminal proceedings is protected by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Police wrote in criminal complaints charging the pair that officers were dispatched to the Arnold No. 1 Firemen’s Club around midnight April 15 for a report of a fight.

Officers said Colelli had red marks around his neck and a cut on his arm; Ciuffoletti had swollen, open wounds on his forehead and temple and was bleeding from the mouth.

Both men refused medical treatment, according to the complaint.

Video from a city surveillance camera near the club shows Colelli following Ciuffoletti to his vehicle across the street after leaving the firemen’s club, police said.

Police said Colelli aggressively confronted Ciuffoletti and they began scuffling, with each man grabbing the other by the neck.

The video shows Colelli pulling Ciuffoletti’s shirt up over his head and punching the man in the side of the head four times before kneeing him in the head twice and throwing him to the ground, the complaint said.

Westmoreland County Assistant District Attorney Michael Pacek said without testimony from a victim, which in this case is both men, it would be difficult to proceed with successful prosecutions.

Following the hearing, Thomassey said that without testimony from his client and Colella, the video evidence likely would not be admitted into evidence.

“A video doesn’t show what happened before, what the circumstances were leading up to the incident,” he said. “There is no foundation for allowing the video without the testimony.”

The fire department’s policy is to suspend members who face serious charges until judicial proceedings are completed, Wally Gouza, chief of Fire Company No. 1, said after Colelli was arrested.

Gouza said members can ask to rejoin the department if they are acquitted of the charges.

After Colelli was charged, Arnold Mayor Joe Bia II contacted city officials by email to ask that Colelli be suspended from his $33,228-a-year job as code enforcement officer without pay pending the outcome of the case.

Bia said he was overruled by other city officials.