Watertown man charged with assault after melee with Boston College athletes

WATERTOWN/NEWTON

A bar patron who was allegedly assaulted by an off-duty Massachusetts State Police sergeant and two Boston College football players was charged yesterday with punching the sergeant during the altercation.

Sean Maney, 28, a software engineer from Watertown, was charged with assault and battery against Sergeant Joseph J. Boike during a melee July 1 at The Greatest Bar near North Station. Assistant Magistrate Francis X. Cunningham issued the complaint after a hearing in Boston Municipal Court, staff writer Robert Hohler reports today.

Witnesses for Boike supported the sergeant's assertion that Maney started the fight by punching Boike after the sergeant, a part owner of the bar, asked Maney and his friends to vacate their seats to make room for a group of Boston College players.

"This gives the public a much better, clearer view of what really went on in terms of who started the physical confrontation," said Boike's lawyer, Timothy M. Burke.

Boike, 52, sought the complaint after he was charged with assaulting Maney and Christy Osborne, the girlfriend of Maney's brother Brian, during the brawl. State Police have suspended Boike without pay pending the outcome of the court case. BC players Gosder Cherilus and DeJuan Tribble also were charged with assaulting Maney, who suffered a broken neck and other injuries in the altercation.

"We have faith that justice will prevail," his mother, Maureen, said. "Anybody who knows Sean knows he would never do what [Boike] said he did."