Six Allentown police officers were injured, including one who was knocked unconscious and needed staples to close a cut on his head, while arresting a man who went berserk early Wednesday inside a packed Wawa in east Allentown, according to court documents.

About 200 onlookers surrounded officers, some of them throwing objects, as police tried to restrain Andrew D. McNair, 22, of Wilson, in what officers described as a "near-riot" at the convenience store, 911 Union Blvd.

Officer Ronald Miller was released from Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest after getting seven staples to the back of his head and will need several days to recover, Capt. Daryl Hendricks said. The other officers suffered cuts and bruises that did not require medical treatment, he said.

According to court records:

Allentown police went to the Wawa around 2:30 a.m. on a routine business check when Miller and another officer said they saw McNair, a former defensive lineman for the Wilson Area High School football team, throw a soda at a woman inside the store. Officers tried to arrest McNair.

McNair, listed in court records as taller than 6 feet and weighing 250 pounds, pushed and slammed Miller and officers William Skriletz and Ryan Koons. He threw Koons from his back into a food cooler.

McNair then elbowed Skriletz in the face and pushed Miller into a doughnut stand where he hit the back of his head and was knocked out momentarily.

As McNair resisted, he yelled, "Y'all just making me mad. Y'all [expletive] don't faze beasty!"

Additional officers arrived and helped take down McNair by using pepper spray and hitting him in the legs with their batons.

When officers finally got control of McNair, he spit blood on the face of two officers and continued kicking at the others.

About 200 people at the Wawa surrounded police as they were struggling with McNair, yelling taunts and throwing objects at officers, Hendricks said. No one else was arrested.

The Wawa was closed after the incident, as workers cleaned up more than $500 in damage, Hendricks said.

The Wawa on Airport Road and Union Boulevard is normally packed and is a popular hangout in the early morning hours after nearby bars and clubs let out, Hendricks said. McNair and much of the crowd had been at nearby Club Horizon earlier that night, he said.

No one at the store would comment about the incident.

McNair, of 2000 S. 25th St., is charged with six counts of aggravated assault and one count each of resisting arrest, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment. He was arraigned by District Judge Patricia Engler and sent to Lehigh County Prison under $500,000 bail.