February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
Paul Sheridan loved darts. An avid competitor in the New York leagues, the 29-year-old son of Irish immigrants had made a name for himself on the local circuits.
At Brady’s, an Upper East Side bar where he worked for three years, the name Paul "Slick" Sheridan graces a dozen shields and plaques for darts championships as testimony to his skills.
Sheridan enjoyed his sport to the last. On Wednesday he had just lost a barroom game when the yellow cab in which he was riding was struck by a Mercedes, killing Sheridan as he was making his way downtown.
Police arrested the owner of the Mercedes for driving while intoxicated. Prosecutors are charging Michael Glaubman with manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Glaubman was released on bail when he was arraigned at Manhattan State Supreme Court last week, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the most serious manslaughter charge.
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On Monday afternoon, hundreds of mourners gathered for Sheridan’s funeral mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Manhattan’s Inwood section, where a New York Police Department piper saluted his coffin as it made its way to the cemetery.
Police said on Sept. 27, Sheridan left Broadway Dive bar on 101st Street after finishing his darts game around midnight and headed downtown to meet up with friends.
Glaubman’s 1999 Mercedes broadsided the taxi as it crossed a green light eastbound along East 82nd Street at around 12:33 a.m., shunting the yellow cab across the street into a fire hydrant, the criminal complaint states.
Officers at the scene alleged that 45-year-old Glaubman smelled of alcohol and his speech was slow and deliberate. He also refused to submit to police tests for intoxication.
Sheridan’s sudden death left friends searching for answers.
"I was just with him half an hour before. It’s unbelievable," said Danny Brady, owner of Brady’s bar. "He was the nicest guy. A guy you would want to be around, devoted to his family."
Friends said Sheridan, whose mother is from County Longford, was born in the United States but had returned with his family to Ireland for his school years when his father returned to open a bar. The family returned to the U.S. more than 10 years ago.
Sheridan, a keen sportsman who had played Gaelic sports and softball, worked as a bartender until he recently found work in a construction and demolition company, his friends said.
"He was a gentleman. He always had a smile," said Rose Stevko, one of the regulars at Brady’s. "For a young fellow to lose his life just coming from a game of darts, it’s sad."
Brady’s will hold a benefit for Sheridan’s family on Sunday, Oct. 22, at the bar on 82nd Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan. For details, call (212) 861-6070.