The 21-year-old was using crutches after a serious crash when a lake dispute turned violent.
HOPKINTON, Mass. — Friends of an injured 21-year-old man pulled a 70-year-old resident off him during a lake fight that led to an attempted murder charge, police said.
The June 3 confrontation at Sandy Beach is now a criminal case against Steven Dana, who has pleaded not guilty to attempt to murder, strangulation or suffocation and assault and battery on a disabled person. Police said Matthew Duffy, of Milford, was using crutches from earlier crash injuries when Dana confronted him and his friends over Lake Maspenock access.
Duffy’s account of the fight centers on what he could not do once the struggle moved into the water. He said he had broken bones in both arms and one leg from a previous motorcycle crash and could not defend himself. In a televised interview, Duffy said Dana tackled him into the water, fought with him and then pushed his head under while not letting him breathe. He said he was praying for Dana to let go or for his friends to pull him off. Duffy later said that when Dana toppled onto him in the water, there was nothing he could do. The alleged attack ended only after friends reached the pair and separated them, according to police.
Police identified one friend as Benjamin Osmanovic, 20, whose video became a key piece of evidence. Osmanovic told Officer Noah Buentello that Dana had attacked Duffy and that the group had to fight to get Dana to release him. Buentello wrote that the recording showed Dana and Duffy facing each other before Dana struck Duffy twice, first with an open hand and then with a backhanded slap. After the men ended up in the water, Dana was seen over Duffy and holding him underwater, the officer wrote. One friend had punched Dana and moved back, but others rushed in when they realized Duffy was submerged. Police later obtained the video and attached it to the incident report.
The setting was a public summer scene that shifted quickly into a violent one. Sandy Beach sits at 1 Lakeshore Drive on Lake Maspenock, a lake that crosses the Hopkinton and Milford line. Police said Dana lived in the neighborhood and became upset because Duffy and his friends were using the lake and a boat ramp that is limited to Hopkinton residents during the summer season. The ramp is the only boat ramp to the lake, according to police. Video reviewed after Dana’s booking showed Dana at the top of a hill telling the group twice that it was time to go. The voices on the video then moved from argument to challenge. One friend asked whether Dana was going to beat up a person on crutches. Police said Dana replied that he did not care and would take a cripple.
Responding officers first had to sort through two versions of the fight. Dana told police he had confronted a group about riding jet skis on the lake. He said he punched one of them and that the group threw him into the water and beat him. Buentello noted Dana appeared calm, had wet clothing, redness on his face and a shirt ripped around the collar. At the same time, the younger men were running from the beach path toward the parking area, and the officer told them to remain at the gate while he kept the parties separated. Once police reviewed Osmanovic’s video, the investigation turned toward the allegations that Dana had strangled or held Duffy underwater. Dana was arrested without incident at his home.
Duffy’s injuries from the fight and from the earlier crash shaped how police described the case. Court documents said Duffy told officers he had been badly injured months earlier, had been declared medically dead and revived, and had fractures to his spine, neck and skull. At the scene, police noted scratches on his chest and collarbone. At the station, officers photographed redness on both elbows, abrasions to his chest, left collarbone and lower back, and marks on the left side of his neck that appeared to be finger impressions. Sergeant Cody Normandin asked Duffy whether he had been strangled or held underwater. Duffy answered, “Both.” Both Duffy and Dana declined transport for medical care after the confrontation, police said.
Hopkinton police announced the charges the day after the fight and said the case showed the danger of people trying to enforce local rules on their own. Deputy Police Chief Scott van Raalten said the department believed Dana had approached Duffy because he was not a Hopkinton resident and accosted him about lake use. Van Raalten called it senseless violence and said the department treats such cases with seriousness because the outcome could have been tragic. He praised the responding officers and dispatchers for gathering information while emotions at the scene were high. Police said Sergeant Cody Normandin, Officer Sean McKeon and Officer Noah Buentello were among those involved in the response and investigation.
Dana’s first court appearances shifted attention from the beach to Framingham District Court. He pleaded not guilty and was initially held without bail. At a detention hearing the next day, prosecutor Elyse Wyatt said Dana chose to escalate a confrontation even though the parties did not know one another and the dispute was not serious enough to justify violence. She showed the judge video clips and offered witness statements, injury photos and a strangulation assessment. Defense attorney David Grimaldi argued that the video did not capture the full context and said the fight followed a series of provocations from the younger men. He also said the water was shallow and questioned whether the footage supported the attempted drowning allegation.
Judge Michael J. Callahan ruled the prosecution had not met the burden to hold Dana as dangerous before trial. He said the video was concerning, but he also considered Dana’s lack of criminal history, character letters and long record as a community member. The judge set bail at $7,500 and ordered Dana to stay away from Sandy Beach, have no contact with Duffy or witnesses and possess no firearms. Prosecutors had asked for $50,000 bail, GPS monitoring and strict no-contact conditions. Dana left court without commenting. Duffy said he was angry about the release and believed Dana had tried to kill him only days earlier.
The friends’ role remains one of the central facts in the police account. Their video helped establish probable cause, and their intervention ended the struggle in the water, according to investigators. The legal question now moves to whether prosecutors can carry the case forward beyond the first hearings. Dana is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and the charges remain allegations while the court process continues.
Dana’s next listed court date is July 13 for a probable cause hearing. Until then, he remains on bail with orders keeping him away from Duffy, witnesses and Sandy Beach.
Author note: Last updated July 8, 2026.