Man charged with criminally negligent homicide after fight at Ontario Beach Park

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A man is dead after deputies say an argument escalated into a physical altercation between two people at Ontario Beach Park Wednesday night.

Deputies were on patrol in the park when they came across a fight at the park just before 8 p.m. when they heard a man scream and found him on the ground, seriously injured. Deputies began to render medical aid, and as they were doing so, they say witnesses pointed out that a person of interest appeared to be leaving the scene.

The 29-year-old was taken to the hospital with a serious head injury, but he ended up dying at the hospital.

Deputies detained the man before he could leave the scene. On Thursday, deputies announced that Carlos A. Mateo, 43, of Rochester, was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide and was released to pre-trial detention.

"We investigated," said Chief Deputy Michael Fowler. "We’re leaning towards the idea that there was not an intention to take the person’s life, but it was a result of the physical altercation, so that’s why we’ve charged the criminally negligent homicide."

Because a City of Rochester parking lot meets the border of a Monroe County park right at the scene of the crime, the Rochester Police Department is helping the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which is the lead of the investigation.