Background: Cellphone footage of the fight that resulted in the arrest of Steven Dana (Benjamin Osmanovic/WBZ). Inset: News footage of Steven Dana in court on June 4 (WBZ).
A Massachusetts man became so upset that someone was using the town's boat ramp that he allegedly tried to kill a younger man who was using crutches.
Steven Dana, 70, is charged with attempt to murder, two counts of strangulation or suffocation, and assault and battery on a disabled person in connection with an alleged fight that took place on Wednesday. According to the Hopkinton Police Department, officers responded to a call about the fight just before 7 p.m. that day. What they did not know until they arrived was that someone caught the alleged incident on video.
Police said that Dana had been arguing with the 21-year-old, identified by local CBS affiliate WBZ as Matt Duffy, because Duffy and his friends were jet skiing using a boat ramp that was restricted to residents of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Dana confronted the younger men about their use of the ramp. In video captured by Duffy's friend Benjamin Osmanovic, Dana could be heard telling them, "It's time to go."
Dana then came down a hill and confronted Duffy, who was using crutches at the time after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle crash. In the video, police said Dana was seen slapping Duffy in the face before tackling him to the ground and "forcefully holding" him underwater.
Duffy told WBZ, "I couldn't use either of my arms or my leg as they were both broken, and I was just praying that he let go or my friends pull him off of me." Duffy's friends were able to pull Dana off of him, and police viewed Osmanovic's video when they arrived. Dana was placed under arrest.
As of Thursday, Dana was still in custody at the Hopkinton Police Department and was being held without bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned in court on Friday. His next court date was not available.