BOSTON (WHDH) - A Suffolk County grand jury has decided not to pursue an indictment in the death of an Emerson College student-athlete who died after suffering extensive and irreparable brain damage during a fight at a party in Brighton last year, prosecutors announced Friday.
Officers responding to a reported assault and battery in the area of 15 Park Vale Ave. in Brighton around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2019, found 19-year-old Daniel Hollis, of Hopedale, unconscious on the ground and suffering from a head injury, according to the Boston Police Department.
Hollis, a sophomore studying marketing communications, succumbed to a traumatic brain stem injury four days after he and his friends were confronted by a group of college-aged boys while leaving a party, according to a post on the family’s Caring Bridge page.
“As we have said since the September 28, 2019, assault that ultimately claimed Mr. Hollis’ life, my office will continue to provide all of the resources and support that his loved ones may need as they process and grieve Daniel’s death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. “The grand jury has spoken and we respect its findings, however difficult they are to hear.”
Rollins added, “The investigation that preceded the grand jury’s vote was incredibly thorough and painstakingly detailed.”
The encounter allegedly led to a physical fight in which Hollis subsequently hit his head on either cement or bricks. He fell unconscious and was taken to a Boston hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a blood clot on his brain, his family said.
Hollis underwent emergency surgery but scans showed that he had “extensive and unrepairable damage to large sections of his brain,” his family said.
He never regained consciousness.
His family posted a statement saying, “We are in shock, we are angry. We are sad.”
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