A 36-year-old Parkville man charged with second-degree murder after allegedly shoving a man into the Inner Harbor, where the man died, had intervened as a “good Samaritan,” a defense attorney said Tuesday.

James Fitzsimmons, a bartender at the Keystone Korner Baltimore jazz club who was headed to work at the time, “should’ve minded his business instead of being a good Samaritan,” Assistant Public Defender Klara Kim said at a bail review hearing.

Police said that video surveillance showed Fitzsimmons and James Jackson Britt, 37, fighting in the street outside Keystone Korner Baltimore in Harbor East at about 3 p.m. Sunday, before Britt ran away and Fitzsimmons shoved him into the water.

At Tuesday’s bail hearing, Kim said that Britt had been verbally abusing a woman. When Fitzsimmons intervened, Britt headbutted him, then took off his belt and swung it at Fitzsimmons, the defense attorney said.

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According to Kim, Fitzsimmons said Britt was walking away from the encounter but continued to antagonize him. Then Britt told his girlfriend to retrieve something for him, Kim said.

When Fitzsimmons saw Britt’s knees buckle near the water, he pushed him, according to the defense attorney. But Kim added that Fitzsimmons tried to grab Britt as he went into the water.

In an interview with homicide detectives, Fitzsimmons claimed Britt fell into the water, which police said was contradicted by video.

Fitzsimmons acknowledged that Britt’s girlfriend had told him Britt could not swim, and that Fitzsimmons said, “Oh well,” before walking off.

Fitzsimmons believed the water was shallow and that Britt would be fine, Kim said Tuesday.

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District Court Judge Rachel Skolnik found that Fitzsimmons posed a danger to the public and ordered him held without bond pending trial.

Attempts to reach Britt’s family were unsuccessful. He had been arrested twice in recent weeks, for burglaries in Baltimore County, and his address in those cases was listed as an outpatient treatment center in North Baltimore’s Old Goucher neighborhood.

This story may be updated.