Ryan Giffone, Sean Lynch arrested in beating of 61-year-old, cops say

Two men were arrested after they were caught on camera beating a Bellport man who had asked them to leave a basketball court, Suffolk County police said.

Ryan Giffone, 23, of Deer Park, and Sean Lynch, 22, of Shirley, were among a couple dozen young men playing at the gym area of the Atlantic Point apartment complex Jan. 3 when the victim, 61, asked them to leave because the court was for residents only, police said.

“This resident took it upon himself to ask these guys to leave and when they didn’t, he began to videotape them with his phone and they took offense to it,” Sgt. Andrew Kenneally of the Fifth Precinct Crime Section said. “It ended up two on one.”

The victim was punched several times and one blow broke his jaw, police said.

Surveillance footage showed “cooler heads” among the basketball players prevailed and the men, including Giffone and Lynch, ran off, police said.

Images of the two suspects went out on Crime Stoppers reports and anonymous tips led to the two men, police said.

Officers who went to Lynch’s home to arrest him Thursday were told he was not home, but Giffone, in a vehicle in Lynch’s driveway, was arrested there, Kenneally said. An hour later, Lynch surrendered at the precinct, police said.

Some callers to police blamed the victim for the way he conducted himself, but there was no reason for the dispute to turn into a fight, Kenneally said.

“You don’t assault a 61-year-old man at his place of residence,” he said.

Both men were charged with third-degree assault and held Thursday night with bail set at $500. Their arraignment date had not yet been set.