N.Y. police say assault of Red Sox fan wasn't about baseball
A Yonkers, N.Y., police detective said yesterday that the alleged assault of a baseball fan outside of a hotel bar there, which angered legions of Red Sox faithful, was not about baseball.
"It's not because he was a Red Sox fan," Detective William Rinaldi said in a phone interview yesterday. "One of the two assailants doesn't even watch baseball. How is it a baseball thing?" He would not discuss the case further.
Carlos Ortez, a 25-year-old Quincy carpenter, is recovering in a Valhalla, N.Y., hospital from multiple facial fractures he sustained in an altercation last Wednesday. Ortez and co-worker Walter Ostromecki, 30, of North Brookfield, were staying in the Yonkers Ramada Inn while working on a construction project nearby.
But there are now conflicting stories about what happened.
According to an account Ostromecki gave police, widely reported in the Boston and New York areas, the two were watching the game when another man at the bar tauntingly asked about their allegiance to the Boston team. Afterward, according to that account, Ortez and Ostromecki walked away from the bar in different directions, when Ostromecki turned back and saw that Ortez was being attacked by two men, including the one who had spoken to them earlier.
Duane Somers, 32, of Huntingdon, Pa., and Edward McConaughey, 42, of Orbisonia, Pa., have each been charged with one count of second-degree felony assault.
Somers said in a telephone interview yesterday that he is not a Yankees fan, as many people have speculated. "I've never watched a full baseball game in my life."
He said he did not speak to Ortez before the altercation but that McConaughey did.
Somers is out on bail, but he said McConaughey, his co-worker, remains in jail. The two face a court hearing Wednesday.
Somers said Ortez approached him in the hotel's parking lot and made some remarks, leading to an argument and a fight, with Ortez throwing the first punch. Somers would not say what the remarks were, but he said McConaughey was not involved in the fight, though was later arrested.
"It was a fight - not anybody jumping on this guy," Somers said. "I just feel awful he got hurt as bad as he did."
Rinaldi would not release details of the police investigation. Nevertheless, he stressed that while police believe Ortez and the two suspects argued, the altercation was not about baseball.
Somers said several people have made threatening phone calls to his home, where his wife and two young children live.
"I know there's some real fanatics in both cities as far as their team, but I'm not one of them," Somers said.
Red Sox spokesman John Blake said the organization has offered Ortez a free ticket for next season.
