T station fight ends with two arrested

By Melissa M. Werthmann, Globe Correspondent

MBTA Transit Police broke up a fight between two men at the Back Bay MBTA station Wednesday night and discovered that one was an unregistered Level 3 sex offender and the other was wanted on a warrant for a probation violation, Transit Police said.

The fight broke out at 9:30 p.m. in the lobby of the station, Transit Police said in a statement.

The men were identified as John Carpenter, 46, of Boston and Steven Odom, 44, of Dorchester, Transit Police said.

The two men told officers different accounts of what started the fight, but neither wished to press charges, Transit Police said. Carpenter had a cut on his face but refused medical treatment.

Both men were arrested by Transit Police, but “neither one faces charges in connection with the fight,” according to Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

Officers discovered Carpenter had an existing default warrant issued by Boston Municipal Court for violating his probation after being convicted of assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and trespassing, Wark said.

Odom, a Level 3 sex offender, was arrested for failing to register with the city of Boston, Wark said. Odom will “likely be arraigned on that charge in the near future,” he said.