Kevin Sehmer, left, and Joshua Davies (Screenshots from FOX6 News Milwaukee)
A man accused of battery after allegedly punching another stranger out on a date night with his wife over his tattoos outside a Wisconsin bar could face elevated charges after the victim died this week.
Kevin Sehmer, 64, faces charges in the death of Joshua Davies, 39. Davies died early Wednesday morning after being critically injured from a punch that knocked him to the sidewalk where he hit his head on June 17 outside Tabi’s Lake Country Wine Bar, police said.
It allegedly started after Sehmer commented about the victim’s tattoos inside the bar, saying he was “going to hell, and God would not save him” before throwing a stool and then a punch at the victim outside, FOX6 News Milwaukee reported, citing a criminal complaint.
“This was a tragic, horrific, senseless, heinous act that has now taken my brother’s life,” sister Jamie Davies told FOX6. “The suffering and pain my brother endured for the last 26 days was not his fault.
“This guy didn’t even know my brother. He has sleeves and designs that he designed himself, has had friends tattoo him … absolutely nothing that would be offensive to anyone.”
A Hartland police officer was flagged down at about 11 p.m. that night by a group of individuals on the sidewalk in the 100 block of East Capitol Drive regarding a battery complaint, police said in a news release.
The officer found Davies lying on the sidewalk, going in and out of consciousness. He was taken to a hospital and admitted with critical injuries, officials said.
Sehmer was arrested the next day and booked into the Waukesha County Jail. The Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office filed one felony count of aggravated battery on June 19. After Davies succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday, officials said charges against Sehmer could be upgraded.
An email to the DA seeking additional information was not immediately returned.
FOX6 reported Sehmer allegedly told investigators he thought Davies and another man were using barstools to attack him, and he pushed Davies back to protect himself. But surveillance didn’t match the suspect’s account, the station reported.
Sehmer’s attorney did not return an email from Law&Crime seeking comment. He told FOX6 he wouldn’t comment on specifics of the case but was distressed about Davies’ death and expressed condolences to the family.
Friends called Davies a caring family man.
“He cared about his friends a lot. His family was very important to him,” Dustin Skorupinski, a friend, told WISN 12 News.
Friend David Novotny was baffled.
“It makes no sense for someone to be that mean, that cruel, especially to Josh,” he told the station.
Sehmer posted $1,500 bond on the battery charge and is set for a preliminary hearing on July 31, online court records show.
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