Bouncer’s Assailant Gets 180 Days

A 32-year-old immigrant from Iraq, convicted of assaulting a bar bouncer and biting off part of his upper lip, was sentenced Thursday in Van Nuys Superior Court to 180 days in jail.

Judge Richard G. Kolostian also sentenced Haroutun Zarougian of Los Angeles, an automobile repair shop owner, to three years probation and ordered him to undergo counseling for his temper.

Zarougian, who has resident alien status, was convicted by Kolostian Feb. 7 of the attack on James T. Harwood, 25, of Northridge, bouncer at the now-closed Tennessee Gin & Cotton Co.

Harwood testified that, on May 18 last year, Zarougian punched him in the face after he asked a woman accompanying Zarougian to move her chair from an aisle, which he said she was blocking.

Zarougian then jumped onto the fallen Harwood, bit off part of his upper lip and spit it out, according to testimony by Harwood and another patron who witnessed the attack.

The defendant also tried to gouge out Harwood’s eyes, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Norman F. Montrose, who called the incident a “vicious, unprovoked attack.”

Harwood’s lip was sewn back on at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

Zarougian was convicted of one count of mayhem and one count of assault with force sufficient to inflict great bodily injury. He could have been sentenced to seven years in prison.