Charges are ‘likely’ in Patriots fan’s death as officials await autopsy results, says legal analyst

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Still no arrests made for the death of 53-year-old Patriots fan Dale Mooney at Sunday’s nights Dolphins game at Gillette Stadium.

The long-time season ticket holder passed away after being involved in an altercation with other fans in section 310 at about 11 p.m. Sunday night.

Investigators are examining cell phone video of the incident from multiple angles.

We have seen a 40-second clip of the incident. We’ve chosen to use these screen grabs from video shared with Boston 25 News from another fan sitting in the area where the incident happened.

Dale Mooney, screenshots from video of altercation in the stands at Patriots game

They show Dale Mooney in the moments before and during his involvement in an apparent altercation. Emergency personnel were called to help him moments after these images were captured.

Joey Kilmartin witnessed the incident and shot video of it. He says just before Moony collapsed, he was punched.

“It was definitely a shock-filled moment for sure,” Kilmartin said. “Once the punch was delivered, that’s when he fell back into the seat. And you could tell he was definitely not conscious or aware of what was going on anymore.”

An autopsy will help determine if Mooney died from natural causes, like a heart attack, or from an act of violence.

“It’s not surprising nobody’s been charged yet because there’s too many questions up in the air,” said Boston lawyer and legal expert Peter Elikann. It’s still very early in the investigation into Mooney’s death, but he says it’s very possible that the person who was in the altercation with Mooney could face legal trouble.

“The idea that your actions were a substantial cause of somebody’s death, even if you didn’t intend it, is enough to get you charged with something like involuntary manslaughter,” he said. “You were not voluntarily killing somebody, but it happened because of whatever bad act you were doing.”

Dale Mooney’s family is asking for privacy and is not speaking publicly today.

The preliminary autopsy results could be made public at any time.

The DA’s office said there are no charges in place at this time.

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