Keath Bartynski listens to testimony during trial in Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer's courtroom Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Bay County Court Facility in Bay City. Bartynski is charged with a misdemeanor assault in connection to cuffing and taking a cell phone from Elzinga. (Yfat Yossifor | The Bay City Times)

BAY CITY, MI — After three and a half hours of deliberation, a jury found a former Bay City police officer guilty of a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from his conduct with a civilian more than a year ago.

The one-man, five-woman jury found 34-year-old Keath B. Bartynski guilty of assault, delivering their verdict at 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15. On hearing the verdict, Bartynski hung his head for a moment.

The charge is punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine. Bartynski went to trial on the charge of assault and battery, which carries the same penalty, but presiding Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer allowed the jury to consider the alternate theory of simple assault. Assault and battery requires violent touching, whereas assault involves putting the other person in fear of imminent battery.

"I'm pleased with the verdict the jury returned," said Midland County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Slep, who tried the case as a special prosecutor. "I'd like to thank them for their service over these three days."

Bartynski's charge stems from his interaction with Joshua Elzinga at Steamer's Pub, 108 N. Linn St., the night of May 1, 2013, and into the next morning.

On learning of the verdict, Elzinga said he felt relieved and vindicated.

"A year and a three months of my life has been tortuous and it's finally over," he said. "I'm just glad the jury saw what almost everybody else that night saw — an officer abusing his power and I just wasn't going to be bullied."

Elzinga testified Wednesday that Bartynski aggressively shoved and grabbed him, pulled him from the bar, handcuffed him, took his cellular phone and placed him in the back of a police vehicle. He said this was all due to a photograph he'd snapped earlier in the night of an improperly parked patrol vehicle driven by Officer Brian K. Ritchey, which he then uploaded to Facebook. After taking the photo, Elzinga said Ritchey confronted him, followed by off-duty officer Donald T. Aldrich approaching and threatening him, antics he also recorded on his phone.

He said Bartynski arrived in the bar a short time after his dispute with Aldrich.

Bartynski testified Thursday that he believes he was legally justified in extracting Elzinga from the bar, as he was responding to a possible fight situation at the business. He said he went to Steamer's because Aldrich's wife, Carrie Aldrich, had sent a text message to Ritchey saying her husband was about to fight Elzinga.

Bartynski said he entered the bar and saw Aldrich beeline for Elzinga. He testified he then asked Elzinga to step outside numerous times and when he consistently refused, he grabbed him.

Bartynski also said he believed Elzinga was intoxicated at the time, something Elzinga disputed. Ritchey, who arrived at Steamer's as Bartynski was escorting Elzinga outside, also testified he believed Elzinga was inebriated. The majority of other bar patrons who testified said they believed Aldrich was drunk, but Elzinga was not.

Bartynski said he took the phone from Elzinga's hand to prevent it from being used as a weapon. Elzinga's phone was not returned to him, though Bay City later reimbursed him for its cost.

Defense attorney James F. Piazza maintained throughout the trial that his client was justified and doing his job when he removed Elzinga from the bar. He said his client followed standard operating procedures in breaking up a volatile situation between Aldrich and Elzinga.

Bartynski, Ritchey, and Aldrich all resigned from the force in June 2013 after being made aware that an internal investigation sustained 13 allegations of misconduct against them and told they'd be fired otherwise.

Ritchey has not been charged with a crime in connection with this incident. Aldrich is charged with being a disorderly person and larceny between $200 and $1,000 and is slated for trial before Janer on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Janer is scheduled to sentence Bartynski at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18.