New details emerge on fight, fall in stands at Boston’s TD Garden during Bruins game

Rebecca French

5 months ago

New details emerge about fights, falls in the stands at Boston’s TD Garden during Bruins game

An arrest report reveals new details about a fight between fans in the stands at TD Garden during Saturday’s game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers that ultimately resulted in one fan being arrested and hospitalized.

Aaron Tucker, 48, of Barrie, Vermont, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on charges of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery on a person over 60 in connection with an argument.

According to the arrest report, TD Garden detailers responded to the Loge 2 area of the ballpark just after 3 p.m. on a report of an unconscious man falling from a balcony. After speaking with witnesses, police learned the victim was actually pushed while standing on the stairs in the area, causing him to fall backwards.

When police and security found the 60-year-old victim, he was lying on the ground near row AA in Section 113 of the club, semi-conscious and breathing with his eyes slightly open, the report said. En route to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of a head injury, he allegedly told emergency officials that he had drank “seven beers” and had “no memory” of the incident.

According to the report, a witness told police that the victim was drunk at the time, which made Tucker and a woman sitting with him uneasy and at one point pointed his middle finger directly in their faces. Another witness said Tucker and the victim continued to confront each other before the shoving occurred.

“he [witness] “We observed the victim continue to approach the suspect and his wife at which time the suspect grabbed the victim by the neck and pushed him, causing him to fall backwards down the stairs,” police wrote in the report.

New video obtained by Boston 25 shows Boston police and first responders responding to the chaotic scene.

Another witness told police that Tucker was wearing a Rangers hat and jersey and that the victim harassed other Rangers fans before pushing him. The victim’s friends have also been trying to get him to leave the arena to avoid further escalation.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” one fan told Boston 25 News. “When Rangers were here they beat them 10-2; there will be more of a fight then.”

Other witnesses said they saw Tucker walking toward the club floor after the push, with the victim rolling down “three to five” steps to the foyer below.

Investigators later spotted Tucker on surveillance video leaving the arena on Cosway Street and tracked him to the area of Endicott Street and Lafayette Avenue, where he was taken into custody without incident.