A St. Paul man was charged Monday with punching and unintentionally killing a Bloomington hockey coach outside a bar following a dispute over social distance rules.
Bloomington hockey coach fatally punched following dispute about social distancing in restroom at St. Paul bar
Bloomington man took punch in social distancing dispute outside bar.
April 20, 2021 at 12:14PM
Bloomington Jefferson High School coach Michael G. Ryan, 48, was found by officers outside Herbie's On the Park at 317 Washington St. about 11 p.m. Saturday.
Witnesses told police that Ryan Whisler, 44, punched Ryan, who then fell backward and hit his head on concrete at the bottom of stairs, according to the criminal complaint.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office charged Whisler with second-degree murder on Monday. The charge said Whisler caused Ryan's death without intent.
The Bloomington Jefferson girls' hockey team asked for prayers for his wife and daughters. "He will be dearly missed by his wife and daughters and the Bloomington hockey community," the team wrote on Twitter.
According to the complaint, Whisler punched a hole into cellophane that was put in place over a urinal to encourage social distancing, then took a cellphone video of himself urinating into it. Ryan called Whisler out on it as they were leaving the bar.
The verbal confrontation was cooling down when the men and their friends got outside, a witness said.
Then Whisler pulled Ryan's mask from his face and grabbed his shirt, the complaint said. Witnesses tried to separate the two, and a friend of Whisler's friend seemed to be directing him away when Whisler punched Ryan in the face, the complaint says.
When Ryan's friend said he was calling the police, Whisler and his friend fled in a vehicle. Whisler then came back, picked up an object from the stairs and fled again, the complaint said.
Ryan was diagnosed with a brain injury at Regions Hospital. On Sunday, life support was removed. Whisler turned himself in to St. Paul police that day. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office said Ryan's cause of death was a traumatic brain injury because of the assault and subsequent fall. It said the manner of death was a homicide.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
