A brawl between more than a dozen parents and coaches erupted at a kids Little League baseball game in Kentucky earlier this week, and those involved are facing potential criminal charges.
The donnybrook happened Monday at a T-ball championship game in Stanton, just east of Lexington, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Video footage of the mayhem has since gone viral on social media.
At least 12 adults ran onto the baseball field and began fist-fighting and yelling profanities at each other as frightened children ages 5 to 7 years old watched in tears.
The melee ultimately spoiled a planned trophy and medal ceremony after umpires canceled the game due to the fight.
“Its [sic] really sad these kids that played hard all season and put their hearts on that field didn’t get to finish their championship game because ‘adults’ wanted to act like this,” said Destani Renaye Knox, who said on Facebook that her daughter had been participating in the game.
The chaos was sparked when a coach disputed a call by one of the officials. Video shared to Facebook shows a man on the field arguing with umpires and throwing his hat on the ground before another man rushes in, shoving the crowd and taking off his shirt.
Some parents remained in the stands while trying to convince the other adults to calm down, the video shows. But by that point the brawl was out of control.
A witness in the crowd called 911, telling the dispatcher to send the cops immediately, fearing the fracas could escalate. However, there were no reports of any arrests or further violence.
Eventually, the angry crowd dispersed but the heated dispute picked up again on social media, with parents and coaches blaming each other for what happened.
Jimmy Smith, one of the coaches involved, shed light on the incident while defending his actions on Facebook, writing “If you’re gonna post videos and call me a POS Coach, why don’t you show the whole video or tell the entire story! I never touched anyone. Yes, I was upset over a bad call, but I would never fistfight anyone in front of kids! I will stand up for my team 10/10 times, and you tell me one coach who wouldn’t?”
Smith also accused a coach from the opposing team of provoking him.
“I guess the other team didn’t like me disputing the call and their coach threw his hat at another coach on my team, and then he got in my face!” he wrote.
In response, coach Steve Randall tagged Smith and offered a truce.
“Jimmy Smith, you wanna make this right? At this point all I care about is getting these kids what they deserve. You call me tomorrow and let’s schedule a time we can have both teams at the field and hand them their deserved trophy. What you did was wrong, what I did was wrong and it was a disservice to the kids. We name the Rangers and Reds co-champions and be done with it.”
By Tuesday afternoon, cooler heads prevailed, and Smith went on Facebook to apologize for his role in the matter, according to the Herald-Leader.
“I accept full responsibility for my actions, and it doesn’t represent the love that I have for coaching the kids in our community,” he said. “I’m done with all the negative comments. I’m not going through comments or any tags. I’m man enough to admit I made a mistake last night and share half the blame, and I will gladly shake hands and squash this whole ordeal.”
Meanwhile, the City of Stanton Police Department said it was “aware of the incident” and actively speaking to witnesses and taking statements, saying it was possible that those involved could still face charges.
“We’re going to speak to everybody that we can, and if the county attorney recommends charges, that’s what we’ll do,” Stanton Police Sgt. Ian Morton told the Herald-Leader.
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