(Update) Man Accused of Assault at Party Says it was Self Defense

(Updated: Friday Feb. 24, 7:10 p.m.)

In an interview with Patch on Friday evening, Levi Sedlacek, one of three people accused of assault at a party on New Year's day, said he wanted to set the record straight.

He said the situation was more complex than what was presented in the police report, and that the confrontation turned physical when two men confronted his girlfriend and her friend. After the arguing intensified, Sedlacek said the two men started to act aggressively toward the two women.

"I just want people to know that we felt like we were defending ourselves, that's why we acted the way we did," Sedlacek said. "It was a tricky situation."

Sedlacek said he lost his job after his employer found out about the incident. He said he is currently working to clear his name through the legal process.

Previous Reporting

A man and a woman from Iowa City and another woman from Alburnett are accused of assault causing bodily injury for a dispute that turned physical an hour after midnight on New Year's Day.

According to criminal complaints, the dispute allegedly occurred in a common-area hallway in a building at 366 S. Clinton St. There, Levi James Sedlacek, 20, and Morgan Brooke Kramer, 20, of Iowa City, and Courtney Anne Young, 21, of Alburnett, allegedly got into a heated discussion with another male subject and some others who were there.

As a result, Sedlacek allegedly struck the unidentified man several times, breaking his nose and his glasses. Young and Kramer were also involved in the scuffle, according to the complaint. This version of the story was supplied to police by the man that was allegedly hit by the three of them. The man was transported to receive medical care for a broken nose and a mild concussion, according to the police report.

In the criminal complaint, Sedlacek told police that he hit the man because he "didn't like the look on his face" and he wanted him to know he should back off. He also said that he had done so to protect the two women he was with.

According to the criminal complaint, Young allegedly told police that the man had been "disrespectful" and needed to be "put in his place" although she reportedly conceded that they could have gone about it a different way.

The three were each charged with assault causing bodily injury for the incident.

Young told Lee Hermiston of the Press-Citizen that the police reports did not tell the whole story.

Young said the group felt threatened by the man and that she was protecting her friends when she punched him.

“Unless you’ve been in my position, you wouldn’t understand,” she said. “We’ve been made out to look like bad people and we’re really not.”