WINCHENDON, Mass. — Authorities in Massachusetts say a dispute over a beer led to a fistfight between two friends that ended with one of them dead and the other facing criminal charges.

Police responded to a Winchendon home on Tuesday for reports of a fight and found 32-year-old Donald O’Malley unresponsive. O’Malley was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Police arrested 49-year-old Thomas Maxwell and charged him with aggravated assault and battery. He was ordered held on $50,000 bail after pleading not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday.

Maxwell’s attorney tells The Telegram & Gazette that O’Malley was the aggressor and that his client acted in self-defense.

A spokesman for the Worcester district attorney says the fight did not involve weapons.

He says an autopsy is scheduled and charges could be upgraded.