A father-son altercation in Hempstead turned fatal early Saturday morning, after the father was found unresponsive and later died at a local hospital, Nassau County police said.
Police responded to a home on Westbury Boulevard in Hempstead at 1:04 a.m., and after arriving at the scene they found Ervin R. Witherspoon Jr., 47, not breathing. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead by hospital personnel at 2 a.m., police said.
After an investigation, police discovered that the son, Ervin R. Witherspoon III, 21, of Uniondale, allegedly placed his father in a head lock as the two became involved in a physical altercation, police said. The father became unresponsive, police said, and the younger Witherspoon fled the scene. He was arrested at his Uniondale home, police said.
He was charged with second-degree manslaughter, and will be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Sunday, police said.