Man, 80, shoved to ground during mask confrontation at bar dies

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FILE - Surgical masks on a white surface stock photo. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

NEW YORK - A New York man who authorities say confronted another patron at a bar for not wearing a mask and was shoved to the ground has died.

Rocco E. Sapienza, who was 80 years old, confronted another patron at a bar in West Seneca on Sept. 26 because he was not wearing a mask, Erie County prosecutors said on Monday. Donald M. Lewinski, 65, then shoved Sapienza, who fell and struck his head on the floor, District Attorney John Flynn said.

Sapienza was knocked unconscious and eventually died on Oct. 1, WIBT  reported. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, the district attorney said.

Lewinski is scheduled to be charged with criminally negligent homicide, a felony, on Tuesday, the station reported.

An attorney for Lewinski did not immediately return an email requesting comment.

West Seneca is a suburb of Buffalo in western New York.

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