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UMass Football Player Arrested In Stamford Attack Over A Cigarette

GREENWICH, Conn. -- One of the Greenwich men arrested in the attack on a Darien man in Stamford early Saturday is a member of the football team at the University of Massachusetts.

Richard Todd Stafford

Richard Todd Stafford

Photo Credit: Stamford Police

Richard Todd Stafford, 21, a graduate of Brunswick School, is a redshirt sophomore for the Minutemen. Stafford red-shirted as a freshman in 2013. He saw action in one game last year. The UMass website lists Stafford as standing 6-feet, 7-inches and weighing 272 pounds.

He was arrested with two other Greenwich residents on charges of ganging up to viciously attack a Darien man who didn't want to give them his last cigarette, police said.

At 2 a.m. Saturday near the downtown Ferguson Library in Stamford, a 20-year-old Darien man was waiting for an Uber ride with his girlfriend when he was approached by three men, police said. 

Three Stamford police officers who were on patrol in the area saw a man punch the victim and ran to the scene, police said.

The victim told police the three men had approached and asked for a cigarette. The victim told police he said no because he had only one left, Sgt. Kelly Connelly said.

The Darien man got up and told the men he didn't want to fight because he was with his girlfriend, police said. Stafford then pushed the man to the ground, and William Rosato kicked him in the head, police said.

The girlfriend tried to intervene but was pushed away by the men, Connelly said.

The victim was bleeding from his mouth and his right arm and had bruises on his face and legs, police said. The girlfriend also had a bruise on her face, police said.

Stafford, a quarterback coming out of Brunswick, switched to tight end at UMass. He threw for 1,689 yards and 17 touchdowns in his senior year at Brunswick, and was ranked the 10th best player in the state by ESPN.

Stafford was the first player to commit to UMass in 2013. He was also a three-year member of the lacrosse team at Brunswick. 

Eric Macken, 20, and William Kimball Rosato,  21,were charged with third-degree assault, conspiracy to commit third-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace in the attack. Stafford was charged with second-degree breach of peace.

Macken is a former hockey player at Greenwich High School who attends Indiana University. Rosato is a former football teammate of Stafford at Brunswick.

 

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