POCATELLO – Tyger Richman said what started out as a minor altercation has cost him his job, his reputation in the Pocatello community and could end up sending him to prison.

    Richman was one of two men charged with beating 30-year-old Ali Alassaf outside Alassaf’s Idaho State University housing apartment, following an earlier verbal altercation outside Club Charley’s on East Center Street in Feburary.

    Richman, 24, and his cousin, Brandon Clement, 23, were charged with aggravated battery with a weapons enhancement following the incident. Bond in the case was set at $30,000 for each defendant and they posted the required 10 percent.

    Subsequently, Richman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and will be sentenced April 30. Clement entered a plea of not guilty to the original charge and a jury trial is schedule in June.

    “I pled guilty when they reduced the charge,” Richman said. “They were talking about 14 years in prison.

    Richman has no previous criminal record.

    Alassaf, a Saudi Arabian student studying health science at Idaho State University, claimed that he was confronted by a white male on the sidewalk in front of the bar and that the man, accompanied by three other white males, followed him to his apartment complex and savagely beat him. Alassaf suffered broken ring fingers on both of his hands and a gash on his head.

    Richman disputes that claim and said Alassaf was the antagonist in the altercation.

    Richman said Alassaf bumped him as he walked to his car, which was parked on South Second Street outside Club Charleys. Richman said he ignored the shoulder check, but minutes later, when Clement got into a verbal altercation with Alassaf, he went back to make sure his cousin was alright.

    The two men were joined by a third friend and they walked to Richman’s vehicle.

    “I thought the altercation was over at that point,” Richman said.

    As the group’s designated driver, Richman said he did not drink that evening.

    Alassaf said Richman and the men pulled up in front of the bar and revved their engine, but Richman said he pulled up at the bar to pick up a fourth rider and could not park because Alassaf and a group of friends were blocking the street in front of Club Charley’s.

    Alassaf said when he retrieved his car from a parking lot on Center Street, Richman pulled in behind him and blocked his exit.  Alassaf said two of the men got out of the car and began taunting him.

    “That never happened, we never blocked him in,” Richman said. “When (Clement) got out to let my other friend in, Ali yelled something at him and told us to pull in to the 151 Building where his car was parked.”

    Richman said there were two or three other men with Alassaf at the time.

    He parked adjacent to Alassaf’s car and Clement approached him.  Richman said he did not get out of his vehicle.

    “There was no physical altercation,” Richman said. “He and (Clement) argued, the cops came and told us to leave and we did.”

    Richman said one of his riders had too much to drink and he had to pull over twice because the man was sick. He said as the foursome was parked on East Lewis Street, Alassaf drove by and made some gesture toward them. He said Alassaf pulled alongside them and told them to follow him to his apartment at University Courts.

    “I shouldn’t have followed him, but I did,” Richman said.

    Alassaf claimed that he was grabbed from behind by one of the men and struck with a large rock during the altercation. While Alassaf told the Journal that he lost consciousness during the beating, he did not include that information in his report to police.

    Richman said when they got to the complex, Clement and Alassaf exchanged blows and that it was Alassaf who was wielding two large rocks.

    “(Clement) was struck with one of the rocks, he was kind of hunched over and I saw Alassaf about to hit him again then I got out and got (Alassaf) in a head lock,” Richman said. “I wasn’t trying to attack him, I was trying to restrain him.”  

    The two men ended up on the ground in a rocky piece of landscaping.

    Alassaf’s hands were smashed during the fight and surgery was required to repair two of his fingers. He told the Journal that when he regained consciousness, he tried to pick up rocks to defend himself, and that’s when he noticed the injuries to his hands.

    Richman also disputes that claim and said as he was driving out of the compound, Alassaf was still hurling large rocks.

    “I don’t know how his hands got injured - maybe when he hit (Clement),” he said.

    Alassaf stated that the men directed several racial slurs at him during the altercation, but again Richman disputes that claim as well.

    “There were no racial slurs. I have a roommate who is from the Middle East,” he said.

    Following his arrest, Richman and Clement were both fired from their jobs and both are looking at possible jail sentences.

    A junior studying business management at ISU, Richman will also face a hearing at the university.  

    Richman said he recently returned from Nebraska where he worked with at-risk youths as part of AmeriCorps. He said he volunteers for the March of Dimes, the American Society for Suicide Prevention and Taking Back the Night at ISU.

    “Telling my story might not accomplish anything, but I want people to know the truth,” Richman said. “I’m trying to regain my good reputation in the community. I’m guilty of nothing — I pled guilty to a lesser charge due to the seriousness of the charge.”