by David P. Greisman

The sad continuing story of Paul Spadafora’s many run-ins with the criminal justice system has added another troubling allegation.

The 41-year-old former lightweight titleholder was arrested last night after allegedly stabbing his brother and assaulting his mother, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He also allegedly threatened to kill the responding police officers, threw an object at them and spit at them. Police needed to use a Taser to help subdue him.

He was arrested and charged with “aggravated assault, simple assault and making terroristic threats,” remained in jail as of this morning, and has a court hearing scheduled for Jan. 4, the report said.

Spadafora’s brother was wounded in the upper thigh, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Earlier this year, Spadafora had two cases lodged against him from the same April night. One, in which he allegedly attacked a 63-year-old woman at a bar — taking off her hat, drinking her beer, putting her in a headlock and, later, throwing her to the ground when she tried to call police — brought about a sentence of mandatory anger management classes.

Later that night, Spadafora was accused of confronting a convenience store worker with a knife in one hand and, well, a blueberry muffin in the other. He faced charges of assault, harassment and public drunkenness, but that case was dropped.

Spadafora’s history of legal issues has been chronicled before. The most serious case led to him serving two years in jail for the non-fatal shooting of his girlfriend.

 A comeback that began in 2006 ultimately led to a fight in November 2013 for the interim WBA title in the 140-pound division, but Spadafora suffered his first career defeat in that bout after dropping a majority decision to Johan Perez. A victory over Hector Velazquez in July 2014 moved Spadafora’s record to 49-1-1 with 19 KOs. That was his last time in the ring.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com