Man Killed In Fight At Gillette Once Saved Little Girl's Life: Report

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Dale Mooney—the 53-year-old New Hampshire man who witnesses say died after being punched in a fight at Gillette Stadium Sunday—once saved a little girl's life in a beach rescue, according to a 2009 Seacoastonline report uncovered by the New York Post Tuesday.

Mooney, then 39, noticed a young girl caught between rocks in New Hampshire's Hampton Beach in July 2009 and stepped into the high tide to save her, according to the report.

"The waves were slamming over her and she couldn't even stay on her feet," Mooney told the outlet at the time. "She kept falling in between the rocks, trying to keep her head above water."

Mooney said that once he made eye contact with the little girl, he "couldn't turn back."

"As the two or three big waves came up, I told her, 'hold your breath, hold your breath.' And then boom, the wave would hit us," Mooney said. "Then we'd fight to stand up and she tried to stand up. She was slipping and sliding."

Read the full report in Seacoastonline.

Mooney, of Newmarket, New Hampshire, was a father of two and a Patriots season ticket holder for 30 years, his wife, Lisa, told WCVB-TV.

Just before the tragedy unfolded at Gillette Sunday, a spectator said that Mooney was in a physical altercation with a Dolphins fan when he was punched in the face and never regained consciousness, according to MassLive.

That spectator, identified as Joey Kilmartin of Nashua, New Hampshire, said he witnessed "bickering back and forth throughout the game between one section of the crowd and another."

Then apparently came an altercation involving Mooney.

"The Dolphins fan walks over and clearly punches [Mooney] in the face," Kilmartin told MassLive. "(He) gets knocked out and you can tell right away he’s not OK."

Police and fire officials said they were called just before 11 p.m. to the 300 tier of the stadium.

Lisa Mooney told Boston 25 News her husband was at the game with friends, and that she was told her husband was several Dolphins fans taunted her husband before the altercation. The outlet said it obtained video of stadium security breaking up an apparent scuffle.

“It looked like people grabbing and pulling at each other at first at some point in the guy in the Dolphins jersey punched the victim twice in the face and that’s when the victim fell into his seat unconsciousness,” Kilmartin told the TV station.

Mooney was taken to the Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, where he died, according to officials.

His death is under investigation and no charges have been filed, officials said.