Updated July 22.
Oak Bluffs Police were dispatched to the Ritz Cafe for a physical assault incident in the early hours of Friday morning that resulted in a man being paralyzed from the waist down, according to a police incident report and the man’s family.
Kevin Agatep was arraigned on Wednesday at the Edgartown District Courthouse, where Judge Benjamin Barnes decided to give him a $1,300 bail, a no-contact order with the victim, and a GPS monitoring device around his ankle.
On Friday, a male, identified by police as Daniel Serusa, was allegedly injured by Agatep. A report by police stated that Agatep punched Serusa in the face, causing him to fall backwards. Police were dispatched at 12:42 am Friday. Serusa was found by police lying on the sidewalk with a “small trail of blood running from his head and a small laceration on his lower lip,” the report stated.
Serusa was taken to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on a stretcher, then was medevaced to Massachusetts General Hospital at roughly 3:30 am Friday morning. Doctors informed Oak Bluffs Police that Serusa’s C6 vertebra was fractured with spinal cord compression, and his jaw was fractured. Doctors told police that Serusa would be paralyzed from the waist down.
Serusa’s mother, Tammy Deese, and brother, Zac Sweeney, both posted on social media about the incident and shared updates with The Times. According to Deese, Serusa is currently in Boston for treatment, and she posted that the “next 10 days will be crucial.”
“He has no feelings from his nipple line down to his toes,” Deese wrote in a post on Friday. “He was in surgery for about five hours this morning, because he had a vertebra that was broken and a pooling of blood on his spine.”
Sweeney told The Times that to his knowledge, his brother didn’t know Agatep prior to the interaction.
Officers found Agatep after the incident Friday morning walking on Vineyard Avenue.
According to the incident report, Agatep stated to police that Serusa was trying to start a fight, and Agatep wanted to be left alone. He said that he made multiple attempts to separate himself from Serusa.
The report also stated Agatep said that Serusa opened Agatep’s rear driver-side car door before Agatep punched him in the face, causing Serusa to fall back onto the sidewalk. Agatep stated that he punched him again “even though he shouldn’t have.”
According to the report, officers advised Agatep that he would be summoned to court for assault and battery. Agatep stated he understood and then was released by officers.
Officers interviewed witnesses, the report stated, who corroborated Agatep’s story.
Officers also met with Serusa at the Island hospital. Serusa told the officers he didn’t remember anything leading up to the fight, the report said.
Serusa told The Times in a voice message Saturday: “He got on top of me while I was paralyzed and continued to punch me, and punch me, and punch me.” He also said that
Agatep “was the aggressor the whole time.”
According to the report, based on Serusa’s “permanent life-altering injury,” it was decided that Agatep would be arrested for assault and battery with serious bodily injury. Officers were searching for Agatep but hadn’t located him as of Saturday morning.
Oak Bluffs Chief of Police Jonathan Searle said that the “suspect has been arrested” just before noon Saturday.
“The suspect was identified during the initial investigation. A felony warrant for assault and battery causing serious bodily injury was obtained in [Edgartown District Court] first thing yesterday. The suspect was arrested in Falmouth today. The investigation is continuing and a more detailed statement will be released when appropriate,” Searle said in a statement to The Times Saturday, July 18.
On Wednesday, July 22, Agatep was arraigned in the Edgartown District Courthouse before Judge Benjamin Barnes for his assault causing serious bodily injury. He pleaded not guilty.
At the courthouse, John Wheatley, assistant district attorney for the commonwealth, said that Agatep attempted to leave the Island before being apprehended by Falmouth Police. Wheatley stated that Agatep resisted when he was arrested in Falmouth, according to bodycam footage. He also said that, according to the police, alcohol was smelled on Agatep’s breath during the initial incident.
“He fled intentionally when he found out the charges were much more severe,” Wheatley said.
Wheatley recommended a $35,000 cash bail for Agatep, while Agatep’s defense attorney, Casey Dobel, requested $500 cash bail, insisting that Agatep, who is homeless and lives in his car, can’t even afford to pay that much. Barnes ultimately decided on $1,300 cash bail, a no-contact order for the alleged victim, and a GPS monitoring device.
“I don’t want anything I say to indicate that Serusa had this injury coming to him,” Dobel said, adding that “recent reports say he [Serusa] was able to wiggle his toes.”
Agatep’s defense said multiple witnesses corroborated that Serusa was attempting to get in a fight while inside the bar, with witnesses saying he was “bothering people all night,” and that Serusa said to one witness, “I am trying to get aggressive with somebody.”
Dobel also said that Agatep was not inside the bar that night; he was parked in his car on Circuit Avenue trying to get a burger at Fat Ronnie’s. She said Serusa kept trying to fight him, while Agatep was asking to be left alone.
“My client was not at the bar. He was getting a hamburger. The complaining witness was at the bar, trying to start a fight, backed up by witnesses at the scene.”
Dobel said it wasn’t until Serusa attempted to enter Agatep’s car, which is currently also his home, and said, “Let’s make this real,” that Agatep punched him in the face.
“This is not a random attack, and the social media sphere is trying to spin it into that,” Dobel said.
She stated that if the case does go to trial, then it will likely need to be moved to Barnstable because of the social media influence.
Dobel also argued that Agatep was not trying to flee the Island; he was arrested while eating in Falmouth. “He had no intention of leaving the state,” Dobel said. “If he was trying to flee, it would be pretty stupid to stop and have a meal before doing so.”
“My client left the Island for a day because there were threats against him on social media. He was not safe here. He was unaware there was a warrant. He knew there was a summons. All of a sudden, there’s social media posts going after him and attempting to incite violence against him. He left the Island to cool off for a bit,” Dobel said.
Dobel further stated that Agatep said he was concerned Serusa had a knife, and that he was making serious threats against Agatep and his family before the conflict escalated. “Somebody was looking for a fight. He found one; unfortunately, it ended extremely badly,” Dobel said.
Agatep also had his bail revoked Wednesday for separate charges against him. He is being charged with operating a motor vehicle with license suspended, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and number plate violation. He will be back in court Thursday to see if he can resolve the separate case, for which his bail was revoked on Wednesday at the courthouse.
Agatep also previously had assault and battery charges from an incident in 2025, which were dismissed in December of last year. According to Edgartown District Court records from the incident that occurred in June of last year, officers observed Agatep on Kennebec Avenue in Vineyard Haven on top of another man, punching him repeatedly. According to reports, the fight caused some commotion on the street, but the charges were dropped due to a lack of prosecution.
Serusa also has unrelated charges from an incident in January of this year. He is charged with rape and assault and battery on a family or household member. While the charges are unrelated, Serusa was scheduled to appear in the Edgartown District Courthouse for those charges on July 20 for a probable cause hearing. According to the MassCourts website, Serusa’s probable cause hearing was not held Monday because the “defendant [was] not present.”
Serusa is currently being treated in Boston for his injuries. A GoFundMe was created for Serusa by his family for medical expenses and everyday cost of living stemming from the incident last weekend.
Editor’s note: Updated to include statements from Daniel Serusa, information from Kevin Agetap’s arraignment in Edgartown District Courthouse on July 22, and prior charges against both parties.
