Palo Alto Assault Victim Dies; Charges Upgraded For Two Cupertino, Sunnyvale Men

A Cupertino man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and a Sunnyvale man as an accessory after a man knocked unconscious outside a Palo Alto bar on Dec. 21 died today, a police spokesman said today.

Charges against Neil Brian Rotroff, 28, and Akshay Vijay Mastakar, 21, of Sunnyvale, in the man’s death have been upgraded in advance of their next appearance in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose on Jan. 21, Palo Alto police Lt. Zach Perron said.

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Rotroff has been charged by the district attorney’s office with involuntary manslaughter instead of assault with a deadly weapon and Mastakar with being an accessory to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon against police officers, Perron said.

Prosecutors filed the charges related to involuntary manslaughter in an amended complaint after news that the assault victim, who never regained consciousness, had died at 4 a.m. today, Perron said.

On Dec. 21, at about 2:04 a.m., police patrolling downtown Palo Alto overheard a commotion near a parking lot at 460 Emerson St. and saw a man lying in the street as four men ran to a nearby parked car, police said.

When officers went to assist the stricken man, the other men got into the car and Mastakar, the driver, left at a high rate of speed, steering toward two officers who had to leap out of the way to avoid being struck, according to police.

The victim, a man in his 20s who was unconscious, was transported to a local hospital, where he remained until he died this morning, Perron said.

Police later learned that the victim and his friend had left The Patio Bar at 412 Emerson St. at about 1:55 a.m. and got into an argument outside with the four men, whom they did not know, but security officers separated them and they went their separate ways.

But the argument resumed about 10 minutes later at the other end of the block near University Avenue, where the police said Rotroff allegedly punched the victim, who fell backwards and hit his head on the ground.

The entire altercation was recorded on the dash camera of a parked police car, according to police. Officers later that day located all four of the suspects, including Rotroff, Mastakar and a third suspect in a car in San Jose and a fourth man in Sunnyvale.

Police arrested Rotroff and Mastakar but decided the other two men did not commit any crimes and let them go. Both Rotroff and Mastakar are currently out on bail, Perron said.

An employee of the county medical examiner’s office said the victim’s name would not be released until the office could confirm that his next of kin had been notified of his death.

--Bay City News

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