PITTSBURGH — A student has been suspended from a Western Pennsylvania university and faces criminal charges amid police claims he was belligerent and spit on an officer called to a classroom because the student wore makeup that made him look like the Batman villain “The Joker.”

Carlow University student Christian Smith, 21, spent four days in the Allegheny County Jail after police tried and failed to have him committed to a psychiatric unit and instead charged him with crimes stemming from the Sept. 27 police call to the campus.

“I just want to get back to school to get my education so I can finish this semester and graduate this year,” Smith told reporters.

“This is clearly a First Amendment speech issue and he wasn’t harming anybody nor was he harming himself,” attorney Phil DiLucente said.

Smith and DiLucente said the student was planning to attend a comic book convention after a class that day, and didn’t mean any harm.