Single Punch Bar Death Suspect Faces One Year In Jail

Steven O’Brien. Photo via Instagram/stevenob27.

By Christina Carrega

Queens Daily Eagle

An immigrant from Ireland, who lived in Long Island City, was killed on Thanksgiving Day after he suffered a single punch to the head from another man. The fatal blow knocked him to the ground outside a Sunnyside bar.

Steven O’Brien was charged on Saturday with a third-degree assault charge after punching John D. McGee in the head outside of The Gas Light Bar on Queens Boulevard around 4 a.m. on Nov. 22, police said.

McGee, 21, was originally from Ireland and was a successful Gaelic soccer player, according to The Irish Sun.

Police said O’Brien and McGee got into an altercation inside the bar before taking the fight to the street, where the deadly punch was thrown.

O’Brien, 25, fled the scene and police found McGee laying on the ground with head trauma. He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and pronounced dead.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Jerry Iannece set bail at $25,000 cash or bond that O’Brien posted, according to court records. If convicted, O’Brien faces up to a year on Rikers Island for the misdemeanor assault charge.