A Republican running for a Massachusetts Senate seat has been arrested three times over the past two decades on either disorderly conduct or assault-related charges, including after one alleged altercation inside a Fenway bar in 2007, according to police and court records.

The charges against Nick Pirro of Lunenburg, a 44-year-old business owner looking to unseat Sen. John Cronin, a Fitchburg Democrat, were dismissed in all of the incidents, which date back to 2004, according to court records obtained by the Herald.

Pirro said mistakes he made earlier in life should not affect who he is today, “except for the lessons learned as a younger man that have shaped who I am today.”

“This is why people are frustrated with politics, because instead of addressing the things that matter, they’re going to try and cut up a candidate, or they’re going to come after somebody instead of dealing with the issues at hand,” Pirro said in an interview with Herald Wednesday afternoon.

Pirro was arrested in May 2007 on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for allegedly getting into a fight at Game On!, a bar tucked inside Fenway Park, court records show.

The charge was dismissed months later at the request of prosecutors after it was reduced to simple assault and battery, according to court records.

In a letter to an assistant district attorney, an investigator with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Pirro was dancing with a group at Game On! in 2007 when a man “acknowledged” a female member of the group dancing with Pirro.

“At this point, Mr. Pirro walked directly over to (the man) and said ‘f— you’ and ‘get the f— out of here,’” the November 2007 letter said. “(The man) raised his hands, palms outward, and attempted (to) prevent a conflict.”

Another person, Andrew Chase, saw what happened and walked over to Pirro and the man in an attempt to break up the altercation, according to the letter.

Soon after, Pirro hit Chase “in the head with a glass,” which was described by one person involved in the altercation as “short, thick,” according to the letter.

A separate police report said Chase was “bleeding profusely” from a cut above his left eye, which he allegedly received when Pirro “hit him over the head with a glass bottle.”

In the interview with the Herald, Pirro said he was standing up for the women in his group when the altercation occurred because the initial man was “harassing” them.

After the situation escalated, Pirro alleged Chase walked up to him “and grabbed me by the throat” while Pirro had a drink in his hand.

“I was defending myself because he had grabbed me by the throat,” Pirro told the Herald. “I was defending the women that were with us and … if that makes me a bad person for standing up for a woman, then that makes me a bad person. I don’t feel it does.”

In a brief phone call Tuesday afternoon, Chase declined to discuss the altercation and referred the Herald to the description of the incident outlined in court and police records.

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The initial man also had a cut above his eye but it was “less serious,” according to the police report. The investigator’s letter said the man did not know if he received his cut from a piece of flying glass or from the broken glass in Pirro’s hand.

Pirro was most recently arrested in February 2023 on a single charge of domestic assault after he had an argument with his son, according to court records.

“(The son) stated to Officer Munroe that his dad pushed him against a wall, put him in a headlock, and received a bloody nose as a result of his dad’s action,” a Lunenburg police officer wrote in a court document dated Feb. 8, 2023. “Nicholas Pirro was placed under arrest and charged with the above-listed offense.”

Prosecutors successfully petitioned the court to dismiss the case before Pirro was arraigned after his son, who was a minor at the time of the incident, asked the local district attorney to drop the charges against his dad, court records show.

In the interview with the Herald, Pirro described the incident as a “family issue” that was not supposed to be made public.

Pirro was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2004, a charge that was dismissed after he paid $100 in court fees, according to court records and the Leominster District Court Clerk’s Office.

A police report dated May 9, 2004, said police arrived at a house in Leominster to find Pirro outside with another man after reports of a “loud noise” that appeared to be connected to a party. Pirro was 24 at the time, according to court records.

The police officer told Pirro and the other man that they were “dispersing all subjects from said party that did not live at” the house, according to the police report

“Mr. Pirro then stated to this officer ‘I don’t f–ing understand what you are here for,’” the police report said. “This officer again explained to Mr. Pirro the reason these officers were at his residence and requested that he refrain from swearing at this officer as I was only doing my job.”

The police report said Pirro “again started to swear at this officer,” allegedly saying “go ahead and do whatever the f— your (sic) going to do” while “raising his arms up in a flailing manner.”

“This officer then explained to Mr. Pirro that he would be placed under arrest for disorderly should he continue with his aggressive and irrational behavior,” the report said. “Mr. Pirro then threw his hands up in the air and stepped toward this officer in what appeared to this officer to be an attempt to attack this officer.”

A party guest intervened and “held Mr. Pirro back” from the police officer, according to the report. Pirro then walked into the house with the officer in tow, who told the remaining people inside that they had to leave, the police report said

“Mr. Pirro then turned to this officer and shouted ‘you can’t come inside my house so get the f— out,’” the police report said. “This officer then explained to all persons inside that I could enter said dwelling and disperse said party based on the above mentioned complaints.”

Pirro was arrested after he stepped back outside, according to the police report. As the police officer searched Pirro for weapons, Pirro allegedly said to other people present, “don’t worry, this is just a rookie action,” according to the police report.

The officer said he could “detect what smelled to this officer to be a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” emanating from Pirro’s person, according to the police officer.

In the interview with the Herald, Pirro said he was in his 20s when the incident occurred.

“Who hasn’t made mistakes and done stuff they wish they would have handled differently in their 20s,” he said.