This past weekend, a Hicksville, Long Island man died when a heavy beer glass was thrown during a Boston bar fight and shattered; one of the shards of glass puncturing 23-year-old Michael DiMaria's jugular vein. He had been visiting with friends and enjoying a night at the Landsdowne Pub when a fight between two other men broke out. His father said, “He was an innocent bystander. He was innocent. He had nothing to do with anything going on in that bar."
According to the Boston Globe, Hector Guardiola had gotten into a fight with one of the members of DiMaria's group (prosecutors said it was over "something trivial"), "At nine minutes after midnight [on Saturday], the get-together took a tragic and bizarre turn...Guardiola of South Boston, angry after a brief run-in with one member of the group, hurled a beer mug toward the table, hitting a partition. The impact shattered the glass container, sending shards flying through the air inside the well-lit Lansdowne Pub," which is near Fenway Park.
DiMaria had just started a job at a Wall Street compliance firm. Two of DiMaria's other friends, NYC school teacher Danielle O'Brien and Connecticut dental student Andy Britto, suffered cuts: "O’Brien needed six stitches to close a wound on her shoulder, and Britto was hit in the head so hard by a projectile that he sustained a possible concussion and needed medical staples to close the cut, authorities said."
Guardiola pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and other charges. His bail was set at $75,000. The Lansdowne Pub issued a statement, "We are extremely saddened by this tragic and random accident. Our deepest sympathy goes to the family and friends of all those affected. We can provide no further comment at this time based on the ongoing nature of the investigation."
