A recovering cough syrup abuser turned drinker had a hard time recollecting an apparently alcohol-fueled altercation in Butler last month that left him with a gaping head wound.

“I knew I was struck by something in the head, but I didn’t realize (what happened) until I woke up in the ambulance,” Shane Baker-Whipkey, 34, of Butler testified Monday at a preliminary hearing for his alleged attacker.

But later when questioned by the suspect’s attorney, Baker-Whipkey recalled being pummeled “with a brick” by 35-year-old Michael E. Karch.

The alleged victim ended up at Butler Memorial Hospital and needed surgical staples to close his head wound.

District Judge Pete Shaffer at the hearing ordered Karch, who has no known address, to stand trial on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

A charge of robbery was dismissed.

Karch remains in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

Baker-Whipkey told prosecutor Richard Bosco, a county district attorney, that he and Karch had gotten into a confrontation about 11 p.m. April 15 at a gathering with several other people in back of the Grapevine Center on North Elm Street.

“We all got really, really drunk,” he admitted.

At one point, the victim suggested he and Karch got into an argument over a cell phone.

But he also claimed the altercation happened when he tried to play peacemaker between Karch and another man.

Public defender Kimberly Hudak, Karch’s attorney, questioned Baker-Whipkey about his memory of the events that night, particularly due to his impaired condition.

He acknowledged he had consumed alcohol and admitted he’s had a history of abusing cough syrup.

“I love cough syrup,” he testified “ I used to be on it all day, every day.”

He said that he recently had been drinking alcohol to “wean” himself off cough syrup.

Baker-Whipkey on direct examination was unable to say what object Karch allegedly used to assault him. But on cross-examination he recounted being on the ground and “getting beat with a brick” by Karch.

Delmar Silk, 56, of Butler testified he had been at the gathering earlier but did not see the altercation.

He later “heard a bit of a ruckus” and returned. That’s when he said he saw Baker-Whipkey injured and looking “a little disoriented.”

Butler police drove by a short time later and saw the victim, who was taken to Butler Memorial.

Police initially charged Karch with robbery for allegedly stealing Baker-Whipkey’s cell phone that night.

But during the hearing, Bosco advised Judge Shaffer the prosecution was withdrawing that charge because of a lack of evidence that Karch had knowingly taken the phone.