Just Another Night in ManchVegas

Joe Briggs – co-anchor of the 2Joes Live! Show

This story follows from a conversation on Tuesday, 6/23/2009, with Jackie English, mother of Tom English – the man who accuses State Rep. Patrick Garity of side-kicking and breaking his leg in seven locations, leaving him with a pile of medical bills and a loss of income. This happened in Manchester at the East Fish and Game Club on Massabesic St. last Thursday night.

Tom English has had substance abuse problems since he was 16-years old. This has followed him his entire 41-years – achieving his high-school diploma via GED, and working as a laborer with no benefits, no insurance, no guarantees, no future. One of the few friends that he has had over the years was Manchester Alderman Mike Garity, who has offered Tom a place to live for over the past 9 months. Mike also helped Tom land occasional labor or construction jobs. One of these jobs was at the home of Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who was also at the club that night and witnessed the altercation.

According to Mrs. English, her son Tom was having a drink when Mike Garity entered the club after having had six drinks at the Ukrainian Club, another popular hangout. Upon entering the Fish & Game Club, Mike sees and confronts Tom about being out late, “beyond your curfew”, fearful that Tom might loose another job. But Tom became offended at the public humiliation, rose and grabbed Mike by the collar. Without warning, Pat Garity – Mike's brother, NH State Rep, Manchester firefighter, and part-time F&G bartender, came to his brother's aid with a karate-kick to the side of Tom's leg, sending Tom to the the floor with his shattered leg flailing out at a 90-degree angle. Mike remarks “This will end my political career!”, as he and Frank Guinta quickly step over the fallen man on their way out of the bar, running “like a bunch of scalded dogs”. Pat, who responded “They will never touch me!”, stayed to clean up the mess.

Someone at the bar called 911, an ambulance, but no fire-truck, came, and took Tom to the Elliott Hospital for treatment. The injury was so severe that Tom was not released until four days later, after surgery that left a 14-inch incision from his ankle to his knee, and requiring stabilization with a removable cast.

Jackie acknowledges her son had a lifetime of problems, but that he didn't deserve the interference and brutal side-kick by Mike's brother Pat. Mike has subsequently called her several times to reach out to her, but she now sees the relationship between the two men in a different light – one less mentoring than enabling. She has asked him to stop calling, and has encouraged her son to retain an attorney – which he has.

“The Garity's and Frank Guinta run around this town like the Kennedy's, thinking that they are above the law, that they are better than all the rest of us, and that they can get away with any behavior. They are not. As a result of their behavior, my son now has thousands of dollars in medical bills, and has lost his ability to pay them. They need to be held accountable.”

This is but one side of the story, the side of the mother who was not there but did a good job of collecting the facts. While the versions of Alderman Mike Garity, Representative Pat Garity, or Mayor Frank Guinta, and any of the patrons there that night, will all differ, the essential fact remains that all of our health-insurance costs just went up to cover the ambulance, emergency room, surgery, and hospital stay, and that the unemployment line will grow by at least one.