The Scranton man who menaced a crowd of protesters during a \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in Wilkes-Barre last fall was sentenced Wednesday to serve two years of probation.<\/p>\n
Michael Paul Kolarik, 52, previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct for brandishing a pistol and pointing it at protesters attending the anti-President Donald Trump rally on Public Square on the morning of Oct. 18.<\/p>\n
Prior to being sentenced, Kolarik offered a brief apology in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to say I\u2019m sorry,\u201d he told Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas. \u201cI guarantee you will never see me back here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Kolarik drove a red Jeep Wrangler adorned with Trump political flags around Public Square during the Oct. 18 \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally, which was part of more than 2,600 similar anti-Trump protests taking place across the country.<\/p>\n
While circling the square, Kolarik pointed a handgun toward at least two protestors who felt threatened, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
Police pulled the Jeep over near Rodano\u2019s on the Square and found Kolarik in possession of two Smith & Wesson M&P Shield pistols.<\/p>\n
One of the weapons was in the vehicle\u2019s center console and the other was in a holster on Kolarik\u2019s hip. The weapons were legally owned by Kolarik, who had a license to carry concealed firearms, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
As police arrested Kolarik, some of the protestors sang the chorus from \u201cNa Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolarik pleaded guilty last month to the misdemeanor charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping additional counts of reckless endangerment and making terroristic threats.<\/p>\n
He had been free on $50,000 bail pending sentencing.<\/p>\n
In court Wednesday, defense attorney John Donovan requested a probationary sentence, noting Kolarik has a limited criminal history involving mostly minor offenses.<\/p>\n
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Dende read excerpts from some victim statements \u201cjust to give a little sense of the shock\u201d those in the crowd experienced during the incident.<\/p>\n
One victim described beginning to \u201cshake and scream\u201d due to the terror of looking down the barrel of a gun, which Dende noted had been loaded.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of political affiliation, any attack on a person is extremely serious,\u201d Dende said.<\/p>\n
In imposing the sentence, Lupas said he would take Kolarik at his word that he will not become a repeat offender.<\/p>\n
The judge imposed the two-year probationary sentence, which was within the guideline range, and said Kolarik will be permitted to serve the term under the supervision of probation officers in Lackawanna County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Scranton man who menaced a crowd of protesters during a \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in Wilkes-Barre last fall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[46,201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179,181,2685],"class_list":["post-182722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-courts","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt","tag-wilkes-barre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}