MJ vs. LBJ Argument Ends In Bloody Attack

APRIL 20--An argument over whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James was the better basketball player turned violent early Saturday when a Pennsylvania man allegedly broke two glasses over his roommate’s head, according to court records.

Responding to a 3:49 AM report of a “physical altercation in which a male had a bottle broken on his head,” cops arrived at a State College apartment and found a bloodied Kristopher Gross with fresh cuts and scratches on his neck and face, as well as a “deep red or purple abrasion on his chin.”

Gross told police that he and roommate Daniel Mondelice, 22, “had been having a discussion as to whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James was a better basketball player.” A witness, Brady Spatola, told officers that “an argument ensued over the basketball discussion” and Mondelice began to threaten Gross.

Gross and Spatola are Penn State University undergraduate students, while Mondelice works for the school, according to a PSU directory.

Spatola said that Gross told Mondelice that he did not want to fight, but that Mondelice “picked up a glass and broke it on the side of Gross’s head and continued to be hostile.” During an ensuing scuffle, Mondelice allegedly “secured a second glass and again smashed it on the side of Gross’s head.”

Gross told cops that he then repaired to a bathroom to “pick pieces of glass from his neck.” While Gross was cleaning up, Spatola told police, Mondelice was “making threats that he would take Gross’s life.” Gross said that he sought to “smooth things over” with his roommate, but that Mondelice threatened to stab him while he slept.

Pictured above, Mondelice was arrested for aggravated assault and making terroristic threats, both felonies. He was also hit with a misdemeanor assault count. Following his booking, Mondelice was freed on $30,000 unsecured bail.

After his release from custody Saturday, Mondelice was arrested for a second time that day. According to police, a woman who had allowed Mondelice to stay at her home called 911 to report that he was refusing to leave her apartment and had become confrontational. Collared for felony trespass and misdemeanor harassment, Mondelice was booked into the Centre County Correctional Facility, where he is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Mondelice, a Brooklyn, New York native, has been arrested several times over the past 18 months, for crimes including harassment, criminal mischief, and narcotics possession. But court records show only an April 9 conviction for harassment (for which he was sentenced to pay a $461 fine).

Mondelice is due Wednesday in Magisterial District Court for preliminary hearings in his two newest cases.

Court records do not indicate whether Mondelice favors Jordan or James. A check of Mondelice’s Facebook page shows that he has “liked” the Facebook pages for both athletes. But in a mid-Febraury post to his Twitter account, Mondelice told his 620 followers that, “in honor” of Jordan’s February 17 birthday, he was watching “Space Jam,” the 1996 movie starring Jordan opposite Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters. (2 pages)