‘Pull Him Off!’: Massachusetts Man Attacks 21-Year-Old on Crutches and Drags Him into Lake, But He Didn’t Know Police Would Get Hold of the Video
A Massachusetts man is facing charges after police say he tried to drown a young man.
Steven Dana, 70, is accused of trying to drown 21-year-old Matt Duffy last Wednesday.
Hopkinton, Massachusetts police said officers responded to reports of a fight in progress at Sandy Beach. That’s when they saw Dana and Duffy struggling by the water.
Officers asked Dana to go home and wait for police. They noted that he lived in the area.
Investigators determined Dana got into a fight with Duffy over his use of Lake Maspenock. The only boat ramp to the lake, which straddles Hopkinton and Milford, exists on Lakeshore Drive.
Police reportedly said only Hopkinton residents can use the boat ramp from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
In the video posted on X, Dana can be seen slapping Duffy. He then drags Duffy into the water and holds him face down.
“It’s time to go. It’s time to go,” the 70-year-old declared in the viral video, claiming that the group overstayed their time on the lake.
“I live on the lake,” Duffy snaps back, to which Dana demands to know where. Duffy refuses, and Dana says he will look it up by his registration.
“Just get out of here, Bro. You’re not going to do anything,” Duffy says. Dana accepts the challenge, walks up to Duffy, and starts the attack.
Duffy’s friend had to jump into the water and intervene.
“Pull him off! Pull him off,” one of the witnesses said in the video.
“This is an incident of senseless violence that could have had tragic results, and we treat matters like this with the utmost seriousness,” Deputy Chief 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,” he said.
Police said the 21-year-old had been involved in an accident a few months earlier. It caused severe injuries, and investigators noted that Duffy was walking on crutches.
“I just knew I couldn’t use either of my arms or my leg as they were both broken and it was just praying that he let go or my friends pull him off of me,” Duffy told CBS News Boston.
He told CBS News he went back to the hospital to make sure Dana didn’t make his injuries worse.
“Our goal during an investigation is to obtain the clearest picture of the incident so that we can understand the circumstances, which is often difficult given the heightened emotions of the parties involved,” van Raalten said in a statement.
Authorities arrested Dana at his home later that day.
The 70-year-old was charged with attempted murder, strangulation/suffocation and assault and battery on a disabled person.
“He tackled me into the water, then we were fighting, and then he shoved my head under and was not letting me breathe until my friend came up and pulled him off of me,” Duffy told CBS News Boston.
CBS News reported that Framingham District Court Judge Michael Callahan described the video as “disturbing in many ways.”
Dana’s bail was set at $7,500. He was also ordered to stay away from Sandy Beach and Duffy.
Dana is due back in court on July 13.