Harlem man's death ruled homicide from bar fight 45 years ago

A 74-year-old man was in a bar fight over 45 years ago, and he died this year due to complications from that fight ...

Dec 31, 2015

A 74-year-old man was in a bar fight over 45 years ago, and he died this year due to complications from that fight. On Wednesday, his death was ruled a homicide.

According to NY Daily News, his nephew and authorities say the victim, Roy Evans, was in a Harlem bar in the late 1960s when he won a bet with another man for $5,000.

“They were in a bar gambling,” said Evans’ nephew Wayne Parker told the Daily News. “They were in there drinking and gambling, and my uncle won a bet. He beat him out of $5,000, that’s the way I heard it.”

Evans refused to give the other man his money back, and after that, “there was a big fight. … He beat the guy up pretty bad, he stomped him out,” Parker said.

However, the other man still wasn’t satisfied, and after the fight, he waited outside for Evans with a knife. The man stabbed Evans, and the attack left him in a wheelchair. He also developed diabetes because of the damage done to his kidneys and pancreas. When Evans died in March, the medical examiner’s office determined that the cause of death was complications from the attack. From this finding and accounts of the attack, Evans’ death has now been ruled a homicide.