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New York Man Charged After 80-Year-Old Man Dies in Mask Dispute

Rocco Sapienza underwent brain surgery but died five days after he was shoved to the ground for asking a fellow bar patron to wear a mask.

A man in upstate New York has been charged in connection with the death of an 80-year-old man who died in May after being shoved to the ground during a dispute over a face mask. Donald Lewinski, 65, faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Rocco Sapienza, who underwent brain surgery but died five days after the incident. Preliminary autopsy results showed blunt force trauma to the head. According to the New York Times and surveillance video, the two men sat separately and alone at Pamp’s Red Zone Bar & Grill in West Seneca, where they were reportedly regulars. Lewinski, who was not donning a mask, reportedly moved around the bar multiple times and spoke to the bar's owner before Sapienza approached him and asked him to put on a face covering. Lewinski then reportedly shoved the 80-year-old twice “out of the blue.” Sapienza fell to the ground, hitting his head, and he appeared to lose consciousness. Lewinski reportedly paid for his bill afterwards and left the scene. Captain James Unger of the West Seneca Police Department said that Sapienza was “very well-liked” at the bar and usually pursued the role of “protecting the staff.”