A New Jersey man convicted of randomly punching fellow students at a Massachusetts university is now suing Endicott College, claiming the school was lax in enforcing underage drinking laws.
Dillon DeStefano, 22, of River Vale, cited Massachusetts’ social host liability law in his lawsuit against the private college in Beverly, Mass., and president Richard Wylie. DeStefano alleges the school’s tacit approval of underage drinking on campus caused him to “become so extremely intoxicated that he lost the capacity to conform his actions to the requirements of the law,” the Salem News reports.
The lawsuit, which seeks losses for damages to DeStefano’s reputation and for pain and suffering, was filed on Feb. 1, three years to the day after DeStefano randomly punched three students at the college without provocation. The suit was filed just as the statute of limitations was set to expire as well, the newspaper reports.
DeStefano pleaded guilty in 2014, admitting that he left one student with a broken and dislocated jaw that needed to be wired shut. A second victim had a shattered orbital bone and sinus cavity, while a third student had a split lip.
DeStefano, who blamed alcohol and performance-enhancing drugs for the assaults during his sentencing hearing, was paroled last year after being sentenced to four years in jail on assault, battery and witness intimidation charges. He has since returned to New Jersey, the newspaper reports.
Prior to the attacks, DeStefano had an “exemplary record” at the college and was known as a “quiet, peaceful, sociable and caring individual.” But campus police failed to intervene after DeStefano and other students drank an “inordinate amount of alcohol” at two dorm parties, according to the lawsuit.
DeStefano’s attorney, Endicott College and Wylie had not been served with the complaint and declined comment earlier this month, the Salem News reports.
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