NEW YORK -- Rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry, who twice failed to appear to face an assault charge, is accused of slugging a woman in the mouth and causing a cut that required five stitches to close, court documents revealed Monday.
The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame member, whose hits include 'Johnny B. Goode' and 'Maybellene,' is accused of belting Marilyn O'Brian Boteler, who 'suffered lacerations of the mouth, requiring five stitches, two loose teeth, contusions of the face,' documents filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan showed.
Boteler said the attack occurred at 1 a.m. on Dec. 18 at the posh Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan.
If convicted of the third-degree assault charge, a misdeamenor offense, the musician could face up to one year in jail.
The 62-year-old rock 'n' roll legend failed to surrender to police Sunday on a bench warrant issued by Judge Harold Beeler after Berry failed to appear for a hearing in January.
Police said Berry's failure to show up Sunday stemmed from an apparent mixup between prosecutors and the performer's lawyer as to when he would surrender.
His attorney, William Krasilovsky, declined comment Monday.
Berry's appearance Sunday was scheduled only hours after he finished two shows at The Ritz, a Manhattan nightclub.
Berry spent three years as a teenager in a reform school for attempted robbery. Later, as a superstar, he served two years in federal prison for violating the Mann Act and 100 days in 1979 for income tax evasion.
