DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A jury found the son of a Quincy police detective guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man a fight outside of a bar in 2019, but while the victim’s family was grateful for the verdict they said it would not bring him back.
A Norfolk Superior Court jury convicted Matthew Potter, 38, of Weymouth, of two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Bridgewater native Chris McCallum on Tuesday. After the jury returned their verdict, a judge sentenced Potter to a minimum of three years in state prison.
Potter was argumentative and acting aggressively before starting the fight with a member of the Robert I. Nickerson American Legion Post, and when he was thrown out he eventually got in a fight with McCallum and several others, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Potter punched McCallum so hard that he fell backwards and hit his head, leading to his death two days later, while the defense said Potter did not throw the punch.
The state medical examiner’s office filed a death certificate in August, which indicated McCallum died from blunt force trauma and that his manner of death was a homicide.
The 44-year-old left behind his wife and three sons. Speaking after the verdict, son Ryan McCallum thanked the special prosecutor who led the case, the state police and the jury, but said his father was still gone.
“Chris was an unbelievable man, as a husband he was phenomenal to my mother and now no one will be there to replace him,” Ryan McCallum said. “There was no better outstanding father to me, my brother Michael and my brother Christopher than him.”
Potter’s brother, Steven, is facing assault charges related to two other people who were involved in the fight but not to McCallum.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)