Philly Today: Chuck Peruto Steps In to Defend Pole-Climbing Phillies Fan

Left: Chuck Peruto (photo courtesy Chuck Peruto) | Right: pole-climbing Phillies fan Sean Hagan (photo courtesy Sean Hagan)

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Chuck Peruto Breaks Out the Big Guns to Help Pole-Climbing Phillies Fan Sean Hagan

Deranged killers. (See: Gary Heidnik.) Alleged mob bosses. (See: Joey Merlino and Nicky Scarfo.) And now … pole-climbing Phillies fan?! Prominent Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Chuck Peruto has just added the latter to his strange client history by stepping in to defend Phillies fan Sean Hagan.

“They’re going to send him to jail for climbing a pole?” Peruto, who memorably ran as a Republican against District Attorney Larry Krasner in the last election, told me earlier this week. “I think not.”

You may remember that police arrested Hagan late in October after he climbed a pole on Broad Street following the Phillies win that sent them to the World Series. Krasner’s office charged 29-year-old Hagan with felony rioting and conspiracy, along with misdemeanors and summary offenses. A judge released Hagan on $100,000 unsecured bail. The Philadelphia Police Department confirms that Hagan was the only reveler hit with felonies.

Felonies? $100,000?

If that all sounds like a bit much to you, well … Hagan and Peruto have theories.

According to court documents, Hagan’s social media posts from the Phillies celebration played a prominent role in the police investigation of him. And, as anybody who would look through Hagan’s entire social media presence would know, he is a proud and unabashed Donald Trump supporter. Not just a supporter: Hagan marched in Washington D.C. on January 6th in support of the effort to overturn the election. He insists he didn’t go into the Capitol or do anything illegal, explaining to Philly Mag: “I may have gone inside, but I had my father with me. And there’s no way my father was going to let me do that. Had I been alone, maybe a different story.”

Hagan believes that Krasner’s office is throwing the book at him because of his alignment with the MAGA movement and his presence in D.C. on January 6th. “They’re politicizing my case,” he claims.

Peruto agrees.

“They absolutely would have seen those posts,” he posits. “And they absolutely would let that influence their decisions. I know how this office operates.”

I asked Larry Krasner spokesperson Jane Roh to weigh in on this theory. Her not-exactly-clear response, quoting the Inquirer quoting her: “Per the Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘On Wednesday, police submitted an affidavit for his arrest charging him with riot, conspiracy, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and failure to disperse, which was approved by the District Attorney’s Office, said D.A. spokesperson Jane Roh.'”

OK then.

Hagan’s preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for November 15th. He started a GoFundMe for his legal defense that is up to $1,774. Not exactly Peruto money, but … something tells me Peruto isn’t in this one for the cash.

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Kenyatta Johnson Gets Back to Work

A jury has acquitted Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson of corruption charges. Again. His wife is in the clear, too.

The Benefits of Bikeshare

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The Robots Are Coming … The Robots Are Coming

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And from the Unhappy-Camper Sports Desk …

Last night was not a happy night in Philly sports land. The high-riding Phillies whiffed their way to only the second no-hitter in World Series history to the Astros. You don’t want the ugly play-by-play. Ace starter Aaron Nola and ace reliever Jose Alvarado got knocked around good in the fifth, and the Phils never got back on their pheet. Astros starter Cristian Javier was close to perfection through six innings, and the bullpen came through for the rest. Final score: 5-0. Series tied 2-2. So much for that unbeaten CBP post-season record.

Tying the World Series single game record for most HRs and then immediately getting no-hit is the most Phillies thing ever

— Phillies Muse (@Phillies_Muse) November 3, 2022

We can try to hold onto our sense of humor, though, right? Before the start, one fan really took the New York Post’s “Phillies fans are the worst fans” story to heart.

If you ever been to a Phillies game, YOU KNOW how close the away bullpen is. They was in his ass 😭 pic.twitter.com/O3H0xDfr6p

— Yankee (@NewYorkWhat_) November 2, 2022

Then there was Mattress Mack, ace Astros fan, taking umbrage after Tuesday’s game at a Phillies fan.

Mattress Mack is a gangster. Astros in 6 https://t.co/bqsMZjaLqs

— SportsTalkATL.com (@SportsTalkATL) November 2, 2022

Hey, Houston! You know what’s worse than cheating?

Bigger sin than sign stealing pic.twitter.com/AUKSz23rFs

— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) November 2, 2022

But wait! We’re not all about hate; there’s this lovely Phillies post-season love story, too.

Some Phils fans seem to be getting religion:

Scientists at Princeton University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Jesus, son of god, might have looked. pic.twitter.com/zmS4qvRMHM

— EROCK (@EROCK_Eagles) November 2, 2022

The Inky’s Matt Breen did a stylin’ job of pinning down the blowout on Brandon Marsh’s hair.

And hey, did you know Alec Bohm’s homer on Tuesday was the 1,000th in World Series history?

In other unhappy news, the Sixers played the Wizards — again — at the Wells Fargo Center last night. Neither Joel Embiid (illness) nor De’Anthony Melton (knee injury) was available for the game, which wasn’t exactly a sterling display of talent. At the close of the first quarter, with shots not falling for them, the Sixers were down  31-25. They pulled back to trail 57-51 at halftime after a run late in the second quarter, and Tyrese Maxey closed it to one point a few minutes into the third with a 7-0 run. The Sixers hung around for the rest of that quarter, with Shake Milton nailing an impossible three right at the buzzer for a 91-91 tie. It was time to head over to the Phils … but the final quarter for the Sixers wasn’t happy, either.

FINAL: Wizards 121, Sixers 111. Washington scored 68 points in the paint and shot 57.7 percent from the floor. Maxey with 32 points and 4 assists, Harden with 24-10-5.

Sixers drop to 4-5. Up next: vs. Knicks on Friday, vs. Suns next Monday.

— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) November 3, 2022

So what’s next? Chances are you, like so many Philadelphians, are trying to decide what sporting event to watch tonight. In our household, we operate on the Hingston Rarity Theory, which states: In a regular-season toss-up between a Sixers game and a Phils game, we watch the Sixers, because they have an 82-game schedule and the Phillies play twice that many. If the Phils or the Sixers are playing at the same time as the Eagles, we watch the Eagles, because there are only 17 games in the NFL season. But a World Series game is a more unusual event than an Eagles game — even an Eagles game when the team is riding high at 7-0. Right? Hmm. Or maybe not. It’s not easy to decide on this one. Thank God for the remote control.

The Flyers also played. And lost.

All Philly Today Sports Desk coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.