The brother of former Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was arrested and charged with assault in connection with the death of their father, who was found unresponsive inside the family's home on Sunday.
Emergency crews were sent to Kerrigan's childhood home in Stoneham, Mass., at approximately 1:45 a.m. Sunday after receiving reports of an unresponsive man at the scene.
Police later identified the man as Kerrigan's 70-year-old father, Daniel, and labeled the death suspicious.
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Kerrigan's 45-year-old brother, Mark, was arrested and charged with "assault and battery on an elder person resulting in serious bodily injury," according to press release from the Stoneham police department.
A 5-page police report, obtained by Fox News, asserts that the two men were arguing over use of the telephone when the younger Kerrigan allegedly put his “hands around his father’s neck."
Kerrigan's son told police that he thought his father was “faking it” when he fell to the floor, according to the report.
The report says that Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when police arrived on the scene and that he had to be subdued with pepper spray. Police also said they saw blood on the floor near where Daniel Kerrigan had been treated by emergency workers, as well as signs of a struggle, including three pictures that had apparently been knocked off the wall and a broken piece of the telephone.
"(Mark) Kerrigan appeared intoxicated but appeared coherent in understanding questions and answering them," the report stated.
"He stated that he wanted to use the phone and his father would not let him. He said he struggled with his father and put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor," the arresting officer wrote.
Kerrigan pleaded not guilty to all charges at the Woburn District Court on Monday. His next court date is Feb. 24.
Stoneham police and Massachusetts state police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office are conducting an investigation into the circumstances of Daniel Kerrigan's death.
"The present charges are based on the facts as we presently know them," said District Attorney Gerry Leone. "Any further charging developments will be based in large measure upon a reliance on the final opinion issued by the chief medical examiner regarding the cayse and manner of death of the decedent."
Kerrigan's mother, Brenda, refuted claims that her husband's death was suspicious, telling the Boston Herald that he died of a "massive heart attack."
“My God. He had a heart attack,” she told the newspaper. “That’s what it was.”
Kerrigan, who has a lengthy criminal record, faces a maximum of up to five years in prison and is being held on $10,000 cash bail.
Elizabeth Healey, an assistant Middlesex County district attorney, said during court proceedings Monday that Kerrigan has prior arrests for assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction and violation of a restraining order.
Court records showed the charges were related to Mark Kerrigan's wife, Janet, though it wasn't immediately clear whether they were still together.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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