Teen charged in fatal punch of 76-year-old stranger at Harriet Island Park in St. Paul

A teenager has been charged with manslaughter for punching a 76-year-old man at Harriet Island Park in St. Paul in January, causing his death from complications of the injury weeks later.

Prosecutors with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Wyatt Doerfler, 18, with first-degree manslaughter. Doerfler’s next court date is May 1.

Doerfler is believed to have punched Thomas Dunne on Jan. 28, damaging his right eye. Despite surgery and treatment, infection spread from Dunne’s wound and he was pronounced dead weeks later. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner ruled Dunne’s death was a homicide likely caused by complications from that assault.

Doerfler was originally charged with first-degree assault, but prosecutors upgraded it to manslaughter after Dunne’s death.

“After receiving additional investigation from law enforcement, including the medical examiner’s report, we amended the juvenile petition to include a charge of Manslaughter in the 1st Degree – the highest charge we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt in court,” Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said in a statement.

According to charging documents:

Police responded to Harriet Island Park around 5 p.m. for a reported assault. Dunne was waiting there as blood flowed from his right eye. He said he was in the park when a man began urinating in public. Dunne said he took out his phone to take a picture but two people exited a car nearby and tried to take the phone away. Dunne said one of those men punched his face.

A witness interviewed by police said the men slapped Dunne’s phone from his hand before punching him two times in the face. The witness reportedly yelled at the men, who walked away. Officers found the group of men that day and arrested Doerfler. He declined to provide a statement after his arrest, but answered “yeah, that was me” when officers asked if someone from their group was involved in a fight.

A man from the group, identified in charging documents as “L.R.G.”, said they confronted Dunne because they believed he was recording him. Dunne, L.R.G. said, should have “minded his business.” Another member of the group said they started urinating in the pond because they could not find a restroom. He stated that Doerfler said, “Let’s get to it” before punching Dunne.

Dunne was evaluated at Regions Hospital that day. After emergency surgery, staff reported that Dunne suffered facial fractures and traumatic damage to his right eye that could erase most of his vision. He was discharged the next day but returned on Feb. 3 with complications. He contracted an infection that worsened, forcing Dunne onto a ventilator before he was pronounced dead Feb. 23.

According to his online obituary, Dunne, of St. Paul, was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States with his family at age 2. He was a member of the Marine Corps who served two tours in Vietnam. In addition to being a decorated veteran, he was “a wonderful chef, prolific writer, playwright, acted in amateur theater, licensed pilot, active in his community as a Board member of his Condominium Association and in that role he campaigned for security cameras in Skywalk public spaces.” He was also a member of Mensa. He is survived by his wife, Helen Broderick.

Dunne’s death marks the eighth homicide in St. Paul this year. There were a dozen by this time last year, according to a Star Tribune database.