Mike Tyson closed the book on Wednesday on one of his many run-ins with the law: his brawl last year with two men outside a Brooklyn hotel.
Wearing a pink button-down shirt, leather jacket and cap pulled low over his eyes, Tyson made his way through a clump of photographers and the occasional fan to a downtown Brooklyn courtroom.
The former heavyweight boxing champ had completed the 100 hours of community service imposed when he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct under an agreement with prosecutors, lawyer Mel Sachs told the judge.
Tyson (38) did more than 100 hours of work with children at gyms in Brooklyn and Phoenix, Arizona, where he has been training, Sachs said.
”He’s had a remarkable effect on the children of the community,” Sachs said.
Tyson also completed six months of counselling ordered by the judge, the lawyer said.
With prosecutors’ consent, the judge dismissed the charge against Tyson and ordered the record sealed. Sachs called the decision ”a victory for Mike Tyson”.
Tyson told police the brawl began after the men asked him for an autograph. He said that when he declined they warned him they were armed, with one saying: ”You’ve got fists, we’ve got guns.”
A hotel security videotape showed Tyson pushing one of the men and punching the other.
Charges against the two men were dismissed.
Tyson was jailed in 1992 for raping a beauty-pageant contestant, and in 1999 for assaulting two Maryland motorists.
More recently, he was cited on suspicion of criminal damage for allegedly jumping on the front of an Arizona man’s vehicle outside the Pussycat Lounge in suburban Scottsdale on November 27. The man dropped his complaint after he was paid $1 400 for the damage. — Sapa-AP