Two BC players, police sergeant face assault charges
Trio accused in incident at Hub sports bar
A Massachusetts State Police sergeant and two Boston College football stars were charged yesterday with assaulting a customer at a popular Boston sports bar last month after the patron balked at clearing an area for a group of BC players.
Sergeant Joseph J. Boike -- a part-owner of The Greatest Bar, where the incident allegedly occurred -- was also charged with assaulting a woman who protested his request that several customers make way for the BC football players.
In addition, criminal complaints were issued against Gosder Cherilus, a BC cocaptain, and one of the team's defensive stars, DeJuan Tribble, after a hearing before Rosemary T. Carr, the first assistant clerk-magistrate in Boston Municipal Court.
The football players were each charged with one count of assault and battery and one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a shod foot) on Sean Maney, 28, a software engineer from Watertown who sustained a broken neck and other injuries.
Boike faces similar charges involving Maney, except that Boike is accused of wielding a bottle as a dangerous weapon, as well as one count of assault and battery on Christy Osborne, the girlfriend of Maney's brother, Brian.
Lawyers for Boike and the BC players said they will plead not guilty at their arraignment Oct. 1.
"They were, unfortunately, in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Philip A. Tracy Jr., who represents Cherilus and Tribble. "They are innocent of any intentional assault on this man."
Boike, 52, a 25-year State Police veteran, was placed on paid administrative leave yesterday, pending the outcome of the case, according to a State Police spokesman.
By all accounts, it was Boike who asked the Maneys and their friends to vacate their seats at the bar to make room for the BC players, precipitating a confrontation that allegedly turned violent.
"We will ultimately prevail in the criminal court on these charges," said Boike's lawyer, Robert L. Allen Jr.
Allen said Boike plans to seek a cross-complaint alleging that Maney assaulted Boike. No date has been set for a hearing on the matter.
A spokeswoman for the Maneys declined to comment.
A BC football spokesman said that Cherilus, 23, a 6-foot-7-inch, 319-pound former standout at Somerville High School, and Tribble, 22, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound cornerback from Cincinnati, remain in good standing on the team. Both are graduates who remain eligible to play as fifth-year seniors. They practiced with the team after testifying at the court hearing.
The BC players were celebrating Cherilus's birthday when the incident allegedly occurred July 1 on the top floor of the multilevel bar near North Station.
Boston police detective Mark Assad, who investigated the fight, told the court that Osborne, 22, of Billerica, said Boike grabbed her by the back of the neck and hair as the fracas began. Boike previously told the Globe that Osborne started the melee by kicking a chair at him.
The incident escalated after Boike and Maney squared off. According to Assad, Maney said Boike punched him and struck him with a bottle and alleged that Cherilus grabbed him in a chokehold, punched him, and kicked him.
Maney also told police that Tribble punched and kicked him.
Maney was transported from the bar to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he later underwent surgery to repair three spinal disks.
Surgeons used a titanium plate and bolts to help fuse the disks. He also sustained injuries to his lower back and knee.
Cherilus and Tribble said in Globe interviews last month that they acted as peacemakers and did not harm Maney.
Boike also defended the players to the Globe, as he did yesterday in court.
Cherilus is a National Football League prospect whose supporters believe Maney may be laying the groundwork for a lawsuit against him.
"This is really a civil case, and they are leveraging it by trying to use the criminal side," said Tracy, Cherilus's lawyer.
No civil case has been filed to date.
The Boston Licensing Board, has scheduled a hearing Sept. 25 on three alleged assaults on patrons by employees at The Greatest Bar, including the July 1 incident.
Bob Hohler can be reached at hohler@globe.com. 