On Thursday afternoon, New Jersey police officer Daniel Hunt and his friend, Ian Salerno, were indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury for assaulting former Boston College men’s hockey defenseman Kevin Lohan this past January.
First reported by the Associated Press, the graduate student, who transferred to BC after spending four years at Michigan, was attacked without provocation at a Domino’s restaurant on Boylston Street at about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 19 by Hunt and Salerno. According to the New York Post, prosecutors say Hunt, who was off duty at the time, confronted and pushed Lohan while waiting in line at the restaurant. Soon after, a brawl broke out between the two sides. Others present tried to stop the fight, but before things settled down, Salerno came from behind and punched the 6-foot-5, 217-pound defenseman in the jaw.
The Boston Police Department (BPD) responded to an assault and battery report moments later. Lohan’s girlfriend, who accompanied him to get pizza on their way back to campus, told officers that “a group of about six to eight individuals ‘began pushing in line’ and ‘out of nowhere’ one of the suspects punched her boyfriend in the face and knocked him to the ground,” per a police report acquired by The Boston Globe. It was only a matter of time before BPD released surveillance video footage of the incident that clearly showed Lohan getting sucker punched in the side of the head.
Lohan was initially ruled out “indefinitely” in a statement made by the school. In addition to wiring his mouth shut for three weeks, doctors had to insert permanent metal plates in both his jaw and cheeks. Eventually, the graduate transfer returned to the ice for the final portion of the Eagles’ 2017-18 campaign—just in time to record his only two goals of the year and lock up BC’s 16th Hockey East regular season title. When all was said and done, the defenseman finished the year with eight points, more than half the total he logged during his time at Michigan.
Upon further investigation, BPD obtained security footage and a receipt from the nearby bar where Hunt, Salerno, and others had been drinking prior to the late-night fiasco. After sifting through social media photos, witness testimonies, and other evidence, Hunt and Salerno were identified. As written in the Globe, the two instigators are set to be arraigned on Aug. 1 in Suffolk Superior Court.
Lohan’s college hockey days are over, but he’s still enrolled at BC as a graduate student. Nearly a half year after the scuffle, the national story has been put to bed.
“We are grateful to District Attorney Dan Conley for pursuing these charges and have confidence that justice will be served,” University Spokesman Jack Dunn said in an email to the Globe.
Featured Image by Jake Evans / Heights Staff
