VAN NUYS : Man Gets 6 Months in Jail for Fight Over Hair Dryer

Talk about a bad hair day.

Michael Patrick Cunningham, 28, of Tarzana was sentenced to six months in jail this week and ordered to undergo another six months of anger counseling for pummeling a neighbor during a dispute over a borrowed hair dryer.

“My idea of a good headline would be, ‘Hair Dryer Leads to Blowout,’ ” Deputy City Atty. George Schell said, adding that “From now on, I’m going to towel-dry my hair.”

While the dispute was undeniably petty, Schell said, the injuries Cunningham inflicted were serious.

The victim, Alex Conaway, 29, suffered a fractured nose, jaw and eye socket, Schell said.

Conaway said he remembers little about the May 17 incident, except for waking up and seeing paramedics standing over him in the courtyard of Cunningham’s apartment house in the 18500 block of Burbank Boulevard, Schell said.

But testimony from other witnesses during a four-day jury trial before Municipal Judge Alice Altoon provided this scenario:

Conaway’s girlfriend, Cheryl Jones, had used Cunningham’s name to borrow the appliance from yet another neighbor. She never returned the dryer.

Cunningham confronted Jones over what he believed to be unauthorized use of his name. Then Conaway came to the rescue of his girlfriend, who had been called names by Cunningham.

According to Schell, Cunningham grabbed Conaway by his hair, punched him twice in the face, then slammed his head down on a sidewalk.

After 10 hours of deliberation, a jury decided Cunningham had used excessive force and convicted him of misdemeanor battery.