Daniel Kerrigan, who rushed to his sobbing daughter Nancy and carried her into the locker room after a 1994 attack at a figure-skating competition nearly derailed her Olympic dreams, died after what authorities said was a violent struggle with his son in their family home in Stoneham, Massachusetts.

We remember him as the father who ran to his crying daughter Nancy and took her to the locker room after the 1994 attack on her which could have jeopardized her Olympic dreams.

 

In 1994 in Detroit, an assailant clubbed Nancy Kerrigan on her right knee during practice at the national championships. An investigation concluded rival Tonya Harding had knowledge of the planning of the attack.

Mark Kerrigan, 45, pleaded not guilty Monday to assaulting his 70-year-old father at the home, where he had been living with his parents.

Nancy Kerrigan who lives with her husband, Jerry Solomon, in Lynnfield, Mass spent a couple of hours at the house in Stoneham on Monday and did not say anything to media waiting outside.

Some family members said Daniel Kerrigan's death was not related to the argument with his son early Sunday.

Brenda Kerrigan, Daniel's wife, said that her husband died of a heart attack and that there was nothing suspicious about the death.

Mark Kerrigan, who has a history of domestic-violence arrests and was sued by his parents to recover money they had provided him, was being held on $10,000 bail.

Daniel Kerrigan was found on the floor of his home, unconscious, by officers who responded to a 911 call. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, and results of an autopsy were pending.

Stoneham police said Mark Kerrigan appeared intoxicated when he was found on a couch in the basement of the home and was "belligerent and combative" but coherent when questioned. Officers said they used pepper spray to subdue him and eventually arrested him.

"He stated that he wanted to use the phone and his father would not let him. He said he struggled with his father and put his hands around his father's neck and his father fell to the floor," the arresting officer wrote in a report. Mark told officers he believed his father was "faking it," according to the report.