‘American Idol’ Star Haley Reinhart Guilty of Striking Bouncer

American Idol alum Haley Reinhart was found guilty of a battery charge related to a fight at a suburban Chicago pub last summer.

After testimony from the singer and the bouncer she was accused of punching, a Cook County judge ordered the 27-year-old Reinhart was ordered to pay a $500 fine and $139 in court costs from the brief trial, reports the Daily Herald.

“I didn’t see it going this way. The judge was wrong in his interpretation and had a cold and unfortunate perspective on the case,” Reinhart told TMZ after the verdict.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the judge thought Reinhart’s testimony was “evasive, argumentative and sometimes implausible.”

Back on July 8, 2017, Reinhart was arrested at the Lamplighter Inn Tavern & Grille in Palatine, Illinois for allegedly punching the bouncer in the head. Reinhart and her friends were told to leave the bar after knocking over a table. As she was leaving, she allegedly hit the bouncer.

After police arrived, she was arrested and charged with battery.

However, an attorney for Alan Chislof, one of Reinhart’s friends, said the incident began when she touched a rope that divided the tables from the dance floor. The bouncer got angry and grabbed her arm, according to the attorney.

Reinhart admitted in her testimony that she might have hit the bounder as he held her arm and escorted her out.

“It could be possible, but without it being a punch to hurt somebody,” she said.

A fight broke out in the club, leading to Chislof getting a black eye and broken nose, and suffering a concussion. Adam Sobanksi, an employee at the bar, was charged with aggravated battery for Chislof’s injuries, reports the Daily Herald.

In August, Chislof sued the Lamplighter Inn.

“It is a primary responsibility for them to have security,” Chislof’s attorney, Mark A. Brown, told the Daily Herald at the time. “But their security has to be well-trained and well-supervised in order to prevent acts like this.”

Reinhart is a Wheeling, Illinois native who finished third on the 10th season of American Idol.

Last year, she released her third album, What’s That Sound? and has transitioned into acting. She voices a character in Netflix’s F Is For Family and played herself in an episode of the 90210 reboot.

Photo credit: Instagram / Haley Reinhart