70-year-old man charged with attempted murder after fight at Mass. beach
A 70-year-old man is facing attempted murder and other charges after he allegedly assaulted and held a 21-year-old man under the water at Sandy Beach in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.
Steven Dana, of Hopkinton, is charged with attempt to murder, two counts of strangulation/suffocation and assault and battery on a disabled person.
Hopkinton police said they responded to a report of a fight in progress at Sandy Beach on Lake Maspenock just before 7 p.m. Wednesday. Police said they were able to quickly identify the parties involved in the altercation and began conducting an investigation.
In order to keep the parties separate, police asked Dana, who lives in the neighborhood, to return home and wait for police.
The investigation determined that Dana had gotten into a physical altercation with a 21-year-old man over the man’s use of Lake Maspenock. The only boat ramp to the lake, which straddles Hopkinton and Milford, exists on Lakeshore Drive and is limited to use by Hopkinton residents only from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Surveillance video footage reviewed by police showed Dana slapping the other man across the face before the two men ended up in a struggle in the water, at which point Dana was seen forcefully holding the younger man under the water. Other people who were in the area then pulled Dana off of the other man.
Police said the 21-year-old had been involved in an accident a few months earlier that left him with severe injuries that require him to use crutches to walk.
Dana was arrested without incident at his home and taken to the police station, where he was held without bail pending arraignment Thursday in Framingham District Court.
Both Dana and the other man refused medical attention.
Hopkinton police said they believe Dana approached the other man because he was not a Hopkinton resident and accosted him about his use of the lake, which escalated into the fight.
“This is an incident of senseless violence that could have had tragic results, and we treat matters like this with the utmost seriousness,” Hopkinton Deputy Police Chief Scott van Raalten said in a statement. “The Hopkinton Police Department asks that residents contact the proper authorities to investigate incidents that involve the enforcement of the town’s bylaws rather than taking matters into their own hands… There is no place for unnecessary violence in Hopkinton.”
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