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O’Brien and McGee fought outside The Gaslight bar in Sunnyside.
By Forum Staff
A Sunnyside man has been sentenced to six months in jail for punching a Gaelic football player during a November 2018 bar fight that turned fatal after the victim fell to the pavement, hit his head, and later died, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday.
Steven O’Brien, 26, pleaded guilty last November to third-degree assault, a class A misdemeanor. He was sentenced last Wednesday to six months in jail.
According to the charges, shortly after 3:25 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2018, O’Brien and the victim, Danny McGee, 21, were outside of The Gaslight bar on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside. O’Brien and McGee became engaged in a dispute and O’Brien suddenly punched McGee once on the side of his face. The victim—a well-known Gaelic football player in his native Ireland—fell to the ground, striking his head. McGee was taken to a hospital and died as a result of blunt-force trauma, according to the charges.
“This was a senseless confrontation outside a bar that ended tragically. The victim’s death falls into a category of cases that has become known as a ‘one punch homicide’—where a single blow results in death and the only intent that can be proved is to cause physical injury. Under the cases governing our prosecutions in these circumstances the highest charge the facts would support was assault in the third degree,” Katz said. “The family of the victim were told of the limitations of this case and understood and were supportive of this outcome. We, of course, would like to convey our heartfelt sympathies to the family of the victim.”
