Monaco prince hurt in N.Y. bar brawl

NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Monaco's Prince Pierre Casiraghi, 24-year-old son of Princess Caroline, was briefly hospitalized following a Manhattan nightclub brawl, the New York Post said.

The grandson of Grace Kelly sustained cuts and bruises on his face when he and his friends got into an altercation with former club owner Adam Hock and his entourage at the Double Seven Saturday, the Post said. The prince was treated at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for his injuries and released later Saturday.

Hock, 47, was charged with punching Casiraghi and assaulting three of his friends, whom Hock and his companions insist were being obnoxious by insulting women in Hock's party and drinking from a $500 bottle of vodka on Hock's table.

"I was defending myself and others," the newspaper quoted Hock as saying during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Sunday. "Why aren't [Casiraghi and his pals] handcuffed?"

Hock was released on his own recognizance and is ordered back to court next month, the Post reported.

While the prince's attorney described the incident as "horrifying" and "unprovoked," Hock's lawyer denied his client did anything wrong and called the alleged victims "jealous" "trust-fund babies" and "spoiled brats."