Posted on 10/06/2020 8:20:42 AM PDT by lightman
An 80-year-old man, a retired steelworker from Pittsburgh, died after he confronted a bar patron who wouldn’t wear a mask, according to KDKA CBS 2.
The District Attorney believes Rocco is the first person to die in the U.S. because of a physical altercation over wearing a mask.
The death of Rocco Sapienza is being investigated as a homicide. In a report by WKBW ABC7 in Buffalo, the incident took place at Pamp’s Red Zone Bar and Grill in West Seneca, New York, on Sept. 26. The Erie County District Attorney’s Office in New York says Sapienza got into an argument with 65-year-old Donald Lewinski, who was not wearing a mask.
An 80-year-old man from Pittsburgh died after he confronted a bar patron who wouldn’t wear a mask. The death of Rocco Sapienza, is being investigated as a homicide. Sapienza got into an argument with 65-year-old Donald Lewinski, who was not wearing a mask. https://t.co/fvTGlRaLFh — Ethical Society of Police - ESOP (@ESOP_STL) October 6, 2020
Sapienza noticed that Lewinski was not wearing a face covering whenever he took buckets of beer to a band that was performing outside. Later when Sapienza confronted Lewinski, the 65-year-old stood up and pushed Sapienza with both hands, causing Sapienza to fall backward, hitting his head on the ground.
Sapienza died Oct. 1 from head trauma after being in a coma following the incident. Cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head.
Sapienza’s family in Pittsburgh is remembering him as a Marine who stood up for the little guy.
“He wasn’t afraid to call somebody out for being stupid, for acting stupid. If you knew my father, that’s the kind of guy he was. And my father could hold a conversation with anybody, he was a very friendly man,” said Richard Sapienza.
While this may be the first death from such a confrontation, there have been many arguments and violent acts associated with this controversial subject. A man pointed a gun at a woman in a Cambria Township Walmart earlier this year for not wearing her mask.
In late September in Logan, Ohio, a woman was tased by a school resource officer for resisting arrest after refusing to leave a middle school football game when she wasn’t wearing her mask.
And in August, a woman took her frustrations out on store goods when she was asked to wear a mask at a Dauphin County convenience store.
Had a 40ish guy (I’m 69) yell at me for not covering my nose with my mask. I had it down as was standing in a food order line talking with my wife and the lady who owns the martial arts school where I teach. I basically ignored the guy. He didn’t like me ignoring him so he jumped off his stool and rushed me. Muscle memory kicked in and I made a MA move that missed his nose by .000001 inch without making contact ... we train to do that for control. He backed up instantly. I guess he got the message ... he went back to his stool while his wife stood up yelling that I tried to kill her husband. Dude thought that I was just an old fat guy ... exactly the kind of martial artist that you don’t mess with BTW (60+ years in the arts 30+ years teaching) ... He thought I was an easy target for mask bullying ... hope he learned to never underestimate an opponent.
Sorry the old guy died like that but there are missing details. One thing is clear, don’t confront strangers unless you have too.
You are absolutely correct. I’m retired law enforcement and have responded to situations just like that. I tend bar part-time now and witnessed this type situation. I had two mildly inebriated customers get into an argument which led to pushing and shoving. They were aware of the rules about fighting in the bar. They mutually agreed to take it outside. their friends tried to dissuade them and keep them apart. They were determined to have it out. Outside the punches started flying. One guy took a punch to the side of his head, fell down sideways and hit his head on the curb. Dead-right-now. The guy that threw the punch was charged but eventually was plead down and he was sentenced to a long probation period. Civil law suit is still pending.
These mask Nazis are annoying, but not worth killing.
I hope that’s not the Manager. Looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the Bar. “What TF are YOU Lookin’ at, Buddy?”
Not for nothing, but if an 80 year old man is at a bar he actually doesn’t really care about his own safety when it comes to COVID and therefore has no business confronting others. I’m assuming there is a lot more to this story than what is printed.
My money is on the old guy making the first contact or threatening violence.
I know that kind of area. Very low IQ.
A prescient episode, as many TZs are.
Occasionally, actually rarely, I put things into the category of “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” This is one of them when it comes to the two involved in this story. Plus there is little that I believe in the media, so it most likely happened in a completely different manner. With that said ... Tommie the Commie and the his dickless butt buddy are to blame.
“mind their own fucking business”
Were you trigger when you reply? Just curious with the f** word. Must be a cultural difference, not use to so many curse words and hate express on FreeRepublic lately.
I do have a democrat friend from the north that uses curse words regularly, it has to be a cultural thing.
He was probably on warfarin.
This is nothing new in CA. I see people all day long OUTSIDE no one around them walking their dog with mask on, riding a bicycle with mask on OMG the media has created such hysteria BUT I don’t only blame this on the media the American people have lost their GRIT and courage we are becoming a nation of WHIMPS!! This daily COUNT on every damn case is getting to be ridiculous we have NEVER, EVER done this until Trump and you can bet your last dollar that if Obama were still POTUS counting would have been halted months ago!! They halted counting on H1N1 damn near immediately THEN the bastards depleted the national stockpile of PPE AND shipped all manufacturing of it to CHINA making it more difficult for this administration to acquire it in a time of need!! Trump has NOT brought this up in ads OR debate!! He needs to hammer this home about the REAL JOB Biden did during his pandemic!!
“I’ve been wearing a body camera in public spaces for precisely THIS.”
BINGO! as do I. It works surprisingly well to avert potential situations. Seems the Karens and Kens don’t like the possibility that they may have to take responsibility for their actions.
I was at a gas station and the guy right behind us in his car yelled at me to wear my mask while fueling up. I yelled back at him, “You aren’t wearing one, so why should I?”
He shut up.
I'm one of those and wear a carbon nasal filter that I get good air thru. They filter particles better than masks, but like masks cannot stop a virus. To me anyway infinitely better than masks with gaps all around, nasal filters are a good tight fit. You just make sure to not be a mouth breather. The only time you might affect somebody is when Karen starts bugging you and you have to open your mouth to tell her to MYOB.
For the ladies though I have found the best way is to pull the filter out of your nose, hanging bits optional for a gag effect from them, and tell them you have it covered.
Wipe em off when you get home and sit them under a UV light ot sunlight when you aren't using them.
Semper Fi, Jarhead...
If it can’t be natural from age, only two good ways to die, f’n or f’n...
I guess you convicted Zimmerman, the cop in the Mikey Brown case, "Hands up, don't shoot" and all the rest of the accurate news reports.
Take a breath, slow down and think, just a little.
You are the asshole in this conversation, and it gives you bad breath.
Okay.
I’ll change it to:
“The asshole who allegedly pushed an 80 year old man to the ground and killed him.”
Feel better now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.