James Anastasio of Staten Island will have a lot of explaining to do after sucker punching two people on his way out of MSG on Thursday evening where the New York Rangers Rangers fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 in game five of the Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Rangers who had jumped out to a 2-0 series lead are now one game from elimination after dropping three straight to the heavy favorite Tampa Bay Lightning.
All of that unfortunately has been put on the back burner as fans leaving MSG witnessed a disturbing moment when Anastasio hit a Lightning fan square in the face before later hitting another person who tried to stop him from leaving the building.
Rangers fan arrested for punching a Lightning supporter
At around 10:45 PM fans walking out of the arena captured a video of Rangers fans leaving together when Anastasio wearing a red shirt had either completely suckered punch or was retaliating for something the Lightning fan had said.
Nonetheless the inexcusable action was captured by a fan and when the Lightning fan was hit he fell hard on the ground and was knocked completely unconscious.
Fans shocked by what had happened began to yell, “He’s dead. He died!” and another fan tracked down Anastasio trying to prevent him from getting away from the scene when Anastasio punched said fan as well causing minor injuries.
NYPD would eventually arrest Anastasio who will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court today. Anastasio faces two counts of assault and two counts of harassment.
As for the two fans who were hit, the unnamed Lightning fan regained consciousness and the other fan suffered minor injuries neither needed major medical attention.
