Man charged months after deadly fight outside bar

FREMONT >> Months after a Fremont man died after a fight outside a popular bar in the city’s Niles district, another Fremont man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, authorities said.

Matthew Jardine, 36, was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the May 20 death of 40-yearold Thaddeus Steiner and was arraigned earlier this month, according to the Fremont Police Department and court records.

Fremont police say Jardine confronted Steiner at The Florence bar in Niles on the evening of May 19 — two days after the pair had an argument there — and asked to speak with him in a courtyard next to the bar.

“In that courtyard, a physical altercation between the two occurred. During the fight, Steiner was struck in the head by Jardine’s fist,” police said in a statement Sunday. Steiner lost consciousness after the fight, police said.

“Jardine returned to the bar and told one of Steiner’s friends … that he ‘put him to sleep,’ ” police said.

Fremont Fire Department paramedics responded to a report of a “man down” medical call near the bar on Niles Boulevard around 9 p.m. Steiner, who was suffering from a head injury, was taken by ambulance to a trauma center, fire officials said. Police said paramedics weren’t told about what likely caused Steiner’s injury.

Fremont police were told the next morning that Steiner “was suffering from a life-threatening injury and may not survive,” and a witness who had been inside the bar at the time of the fight “came forward with information regarding the events leading up to the injury,” police said.

Steiner was pronounced dead at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley at 5:30 p.m. May 20, the result of blunt force injuries to his head, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau said Sunday.

The medical examiner report “indicated Steiner had a fracture to the back of his skull and a subdermal hematoma which caused swelling/pressure to be put on the brain stem,” police said.

Fremont Police Detective Michael Gebhardt said Sunday that Steiner and Jardine got into a fight on the outdoor patio of a coffee shop next door to the bar, and Steiner may have hit his head on a hard surface after getting punched by Jardine.

“That is our belief. It wasn’t the punch to the head, but it was potentially the fall back that he did; the fall back would have caused the brain stem injury,” Gebhardt said.

Detectives got video surveillance from multiple businesses near the bar and spoke to several potential witnesses, police said.

Gebhardt said the impetus for the fight appears to have started late night on May 17, when Steiner may have had a gun on him while at the bar.

“And in essence, (Jardine) at that time told (Steiner), ‘Dude, get out of here with that, no one wants to have a gun around the bar area,’ ” Gebhardt said.

Police believe the fight on May 19, in which Steiner was severely injured, “was a result of (Steiner) coming back to the bar and (Jardine) not wanting him to be there,” Gebhardt said.

On May 23, Jardine and his attorney spoke with detectives about the fight, police said.

“Jardine was found to have multiple cuts in the knuckle area of his right hand and his middle finger appeared to be swollen and bruised in color,” police said, injuries that were consistent with the fight he described. He was not arrested at that time.

After charges were filed against Jardine, he turned himself into authorities. He was later released on his own recognizance and he is not in jail, police said.

His next court date is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 14 in the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.

The Fremont Police Department issued one brief statement about the investigation in the case in late May, but had since issued no updates, something critics say allowed rumors to fly and leaving residents confused about what happened.

Gebhardt, however, said this case “was not as clear-cut as other homicides we’ve worked,” and police didn’t want to speculate about the case before charges were filed.

“The players involved in the incident were never in question; the circumstances surrounding the death was the purpose of the investigation,” Gebhardt said.

The District Attorney’s Office and police also needed to wait for a detailed coroner’s report to be completed, which added to the time it took to file changes, Gebhardt said.

“From my view, of being the lead detective in the case, I don’t think there has been a lack of communication or transparency with the citizens whatsoever. This one just took a really, really, really long time to find a resolution to.”

“The players involved in the incident were never in question; the circumstances surrounding the death was the purpose of the investigation.”

— Michael Gebhardt, Fremont police detective