Serb college basketball player wanted in U.S. arrested in Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian basketball player who fled the United States after a bar brawl that left a fellow student in a coma was arrested Tuesday in Belgrade, police said.

Miladin Kovacevic was detained on suspicion that he "inflicted severe bodily harm" on Bryan Steinhauer during the fight in a bar in upstate New York last May.

The arrest followed a decision earlier this month by U.S. authorities to hand over an investigating file on Kovacevic's case to the Serbian judiciary, Tomo Zoric, spokesman for Serbia's prosecution office, told The Associated Press.

Serbia has refused to extradite Kovacevic to the United States, saying its laws do not allow it. The case has strained relations between the two countries.

The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade welcomed the detention of Kovacevic. "The Embassy is cooperating with Serbia's request to investigate this case," it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if or when Kovacevic, 21, would be formally charged in Serbia. He is to be questioned by an investigative judge who will decide whether to keep him in prison and open a formal investigation.

Kovacevic's lawyer, Borivoje Borovic, said Kovacevic has been detained for questioning. Kovacevic's father, Petar, told the AP that his son "voluntarily went to a police station for questioning."

Serbia's police media office said that a former Serbian consul in New York also was arrested Tuesday. The consul allegedly helped Kovacevic by providing emergency travel documents that helped the 21-year-old flee the U.S. last June.

Both the ex-consul and Kovacevic are suspected of forging the travel documents, Zoric said.

Kovacevic, who played basketball for Binghamton University in upstate New York, jumped bail after being charged with assault. Steinhauer, 22, only recently emerged from a coma.

Kovacevic has signed a contract to play for a basketball team in a regional Serbian league.