Minnesota barroom dispute leaves girls’ hockey coach dead
A girls hockey coach died in Minnesota after reportedly being assaulted outside a bar by a man with whom he’d had a dispute about social distancing in the bathroom.
The Duluth News Tribune reports that Mike Ryan, the 48-year-old coach of Minnesota’s Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars, was beaten by bar-goer Ryan John Whisler, 43 while exiting Herbie’s on the Park in St. Paul on Saturday with friends.
The pair had reportedly met in the bar’s bathroom where Whisler punched a hole in a plastic covering over a urinal he wanted to use, then recorded himself urinating in the receptacle. Some urinals were taken out of use to enforce social distancing on account of the pandemic.
Annoyed, Ryan held his tongue until he was leaving the bar at which point he admonished Whisler for his behavior, friends of Ryan’s told investigators. Whisler had attended an NHL hockey game prior to the altercation.
The situation reportedly appeared to have cooled down, though the Tribune reports that surveillance video from outside the bar shows Whisler grabbing Ryan’s shirt as the victim tried to pull away. The alleged assailant also struck his victim’s face as his mask was coming off, police said. One of Whistler’s friends reportedly intervened, and that’s when the alleged killer connected on his victim with a haymaker.
“The video, when played frame by frame, shows Whisler pushed (Ryan) towards the stairs,” a police report said. “(Ryan) flew through the air to the bottom of the stairs and his head hit the concrete.”
It was at the bottom of that nine-step staircase police reportedly found a supine and mortally injured Ryan around 11 p.m. Saturday. He was taken to an area hospital and put on life support until his family could be notified of the coach’s unsurvivable state.
Police reportedly identified Whisler as a suspect because he’d used a credit card at the bar. He surrendered to police without offering a statement. His lawyer did not immediately comment either. Ryan succumbed to his injuries Sunday. Whisler reportedly faces a charge of second-degree unintentional murder.
