An 80-year-old man died after he was shoved to the ground by someone in a bar whom he confronted about not wearing a face mask, police said.
Donald Lewinski, 65, was arrested on Monday and charged with criminally negligent homicide for his alleged role in the Sept. 26 incident, according to WABC. Prosecutors allege that Lewinski was at a bar in West Seneca, a suburb of Buffalo, when Rocco Sapienza, 80, saw Lewinski carrying beers and approached him about his lack of a mask.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at a Monday news conference that Lewinski shoved Sapienza “pretty hard,” which caused the older man to fall backward and hit his head on the ground. Sapienza was taken to the hospital, diagnosed with blunt force trauma, and died four days later on Wednesday.
“The defendant allegedly stood up at the bar stool and pushed him with two hands, and he pushed him pretty hard,” Flynn said, according to WBFO. “The victim went flying back, hit his head on the ground, on the floor of the bar. He was pretty much in an unresponsive condition right away.”
Flynn said that in addition to the mask dispute, the two allegedly were at odds over another incident at the bar that day.
“Also, there was an incident beforehand that involved a young lady, and the victim didn’t like the way the defendant spoke to the young lady. I get the impression from the witness statements that these two just didn’t like one another,” Flynn said.
Lewinski’s lawyer said his client intends to enter a not guilty plea to the criminally negligent homicide charge, which carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.
