Braselton Police: Flowery Branch man charged with murder

A Flowery Branch man is behind bars in Barrow County for allegedly punching another man, leading to his death.
 
Braselton Assistant Police Chief Lou Solis said the incident happened at Jack's Bar and Grill off Highway 211, near to the Shell station the victim, Clint Ali, 34, and his family owned.
 
"It's being misunderstood as a bar fight. There was no fight at all," said Solis.
 
Ali and a friend were at the bar, according to Solis, and another pair of friends was also at the bar. That pair included David Allen Digiacomo, 40, of Flowery Branch.
 
Solis said Digiacomo's friend had apprently had words with or had been in an altercation with Ali previously. The friend apparently mentioned this to Digiacomo, who went up to Ali at the jukebox.
 
"And Digiacomo walks right up to Mr. Ali and just sucker punches him.... we watched the [surveillance] video and there was no confrontation at all. There were no words exchanged. He just sucker punched Mr. Ali," Solis said.
 
Solis said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner determined Ali died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck area. Solis said the medical examiner did not indicate Ali had any pre-existing conditions that would have impacted his death.
 
"He classified it as a murder" Solis added.
 
Another officer was able to speak with Digiacomo on the phone later that night, who said he would come in to the station the next day to talk about what happened, Solis said. "We hadn't seen the video at that time. We were going off of what people were saying at the bar. We were wating on the video."
 
However, Solis said the police chief insisted on locating Digiacomo that evening. Digiacomo was later arrested at a friend's house without incident.
 
"He was very cooperative. He did not know that Mr. Ali had died until I told him myself," Solis said.
 
He was booked into the Barrow County Jail and faces murder, aggravated assault and obstruction charges.
 
"Especially around the holidays, people want to go out and drink. It's very hard to do, but you need to do it: When people start giving you lip service, especially when there is alcohol involved, the best thing to do is to turn around and walk away."