Tuesday, January 26, 2010
WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — Daniel Kerrigan, who rushed to his sobbing daughter Nancy and carried her into the locker room after an attack at a skating competition nearly derailed her Olympic dreams, died after what authorities said was a violent struggle with his son in their family home.
Mark Kerrigan, 45, pleaded not guilty Monday to assaulting his 70-year-old father at the home in the Boston suburb of Stoneham where he had been living with his parents. He did not speak at his arraignment but at one point put his head in his hands and wept.
Nancy Kerrigan, a two-time Olympic medal winner, arrived at the family home shortly before 2 p.m. Monday and left a couple of hours later. She did not say anything to reporters and photographers waiting outside.
Family members said Daniel Kerrigan’s death was not related to the argument with his son early Sunday.
A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Daniel Kerrigan identified herself only as “Dan’s sister” and said her brother “had a massive heart attack.” She said her nephew played no part in the death and declined to comment further. Brenda Kerrigan, Daniel Kerrigan’s wife, told the Boston Herald that her husband died of a heart attack and that there was nothing suspicious about the death.
Mark Kerrigan, who has a history of domestic violence arrests and was sued by his parents to recover money they had provided him, was being held on $10,000 bail. He was released from jail in 2007, according to his lawyer, but it was not immediately clear why he was serving time or for how long he served.
The death of Daniel Kerrigan comes as the national spotlight again turns to one of the most popular sports in the upcoming Olympic Games, just weeks away. The intensity of competition among skaters was never more apparent than in 1994, when an assailant clubbed Nancy Kerrigan on her right knee during practice at the U.S. Championships. An investigation revealed rival Tonya Harding had knowledge of the planning of the attack.
Daniel Kerrigan and his wife, Brenda, nurtured the love of skating in their daughter, who was a self-described tomboy with two hockey-playing big brothers. Daniel Kerrigan, a welder, drove a Zamboni ice-cleaning machine at the local rink in exchange for practice ice time, and he and Brenda took out a second mortgage on their home to help pay for Nancy’s skating lessons.
The family is traditionally low-key and private, and they struggled with the attention brought on by the assault on Nancy.
“I hate the fact that the Kerrigans’ laundry is aired out in newspapers all around the world and everybody has to know all about us,” her brother Michael said at the time.
Daniel Kerrigan was found on the floor of his home, unconscious, by officers who responded to a 911 call at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, and results of an autopsy were pending.
Police said Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when he was found on a couch in the basement of the home and was “belligerent and combative” but coherent when questioned.