HILLARY'S BROTHER IN LOVE TRIANGLE
By DOUGLAS MONTERO and TRACY CONNOR
Tony Rodham
August 21, 2001 -- The Pennsylvania factory worker who roughed up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother flew into a jealous rage when he caught the chubby consultant having sex with his fiancée, cops said.
"The man was f- - -ing my girlfriend. What did you expect me to do?" a distraught Daniel Coyne asked the state trooper who arrested him for allegedly assaulting Tony Rodham over the weekend.
The seamy details of the violent confrontation between Coyne and Rodham in the picturesque vacation hamlet of Lake Winola were revealed in court documents yesterday.
Coyne, 45, a paper-mill shop steward, climbed onto the porch of the Rodhams' yellow-frame summer cottage early Sunday and spotted Tony in the act with paralegal Kelly Quick, the criminal complaint said.
A stunned Coyne, who's had a stormy on-again, off-again romance with Quick for years, allegedly barged into the two-story home and began kicking Rodham in the face and body.
While Rodham, 47, was cowering in the fetal position on the living-room floor, his older brother, Hugh, heard the commotion, ran upstairs and ordered Coyne to leave.
He did, but returned a short time later, supposedly because he needed to get his house keys from Quick, 36. Another fracas ensued, with Coyne pouring out his heart to his cheating girlfriend.
"Kelly, how could you do this to me?" he bellowed at the petite brunette, according to a neighbor. "We've been together six years. You're like my wife."
Coyne and Tony Rodham came to blows again, and this time, Hugh Rodham and Quick helped restrain him. Coyne left and went to the hospital, where he called the State Police.
At an arraignment several hours later, Coyne appeared with a black eye, complaining of a dislocated shoulder. He was held overnight in the Wyoming County Jail until his sister posted the standard $25,000 bail for felony cases.
Tony Rodham, who refused to comment on the brawl yesterday, suffered scrapes and a swollen nose. He told cops he hit Coyne in self-defense.
David and Stephanie Jones, friends and neighbors of Coyne, were upset the cuckold is being treated like a criminal.
"It's simply because of the Rodhams. If they weren't involved, they wouldn't be making him out to be something that he's not," Stephanie Jones said.
They said Coyne, a divorced dad of two, has been involved with Quick for six years - and described their relationship as tempestuous.
The two recently became engaged, but Coyne took back the ring after a fight. Later, they made up, but Coyne was suspicious that Quick might be seeing someone else, the Joneses said.
"He's been pushed and pushed and pushed and then he came upon this," said David Jones.
His wife added, "He invested a lot of time in the relationship and he loves her to death."
Coyne, a former Army intelligence man, is due back in court next week for a hearing before District Judge Russell Shurtleff. He's charged with burglary for entering a private residence, criminal trespass and simple assault.
Tony Rodham's lawyer did not return calls for comment, and his senator-sister was also mum on the latest controversy to dog her siblings.
Following a press conference on Mideast violence at the
United Nations, she was asked how her brother was doing,
and gave a one-word response: "Fine."
-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001