WASHINGTON — A man is dead following a Thursday afternoon dispute, which ended with a single punch at a Northeast D.C. road construction site.
Court documents identify the victim as Desmond Joseph. No address or age is provided.
Metro Transit Police officers found Joseph lying on the ground around 3:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE and summoned DC Police. Paul Hagans Jr., 36, of Upper Marlboro, who was part of a construction crew, turned himself in Thursday evening.
Hagans told D.C. police investigators that he saw the man tossing traffic cones out of the way and confronted him. Hagans, who was in charge of traffic control for the construction crew of Dynamic Concepts Inc., said words were exchanged. Joseph was holding a traffic cone and “flinched toward him, at which time he reacted by punching him,” according to court documents.
But three witnesses have told investigating police officers that Joseph did not have a traffic cone in his hand when Hagans threw the single punch.
Hagans told police the man fell backward and he could see his eyes rolling back before he fell. Joseph suffered a hematoma to the back right portion of the head.
Hagans appeared in D.C. Superior Court Friday and was ordered held on a charge of aggravated assault which created grave risk. The case remains under investigation and Hagans is scheduled for a preliminary hearing March 13.
