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First, socc-her, then call the cops

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

A Sunday morning soccer game that left several team members and parents nursing minor cuts and bruises might have been billed as a recreational event, but to the untrained eye, it might have looked more like the main event at the WWE Smackdown show.

Peachtree City police responded to the Soccer Complex located at 1125 Ga. Highway 74 South after receiving a call that a fight broke out during a soccer tournament at about 11 a.m. The fight ended before police arrived, but police interviewed players and parents about the brawl.

Due to conflicting statements given by both teams and their associates, police made no arrests and referred both parties to a magistrate judge for a pre-issuance hearing.

“Upon arrival, I met with Juvenile 1, who advised that he and another subject, Juvenile 2, had gotten into a fight during game-play,” the police report said. “He advised that the two of them had been in a dispute over who had possession of the ball, when Juvenile 2 slapped it from his hands.”

After the opponent slapped the ball out of the juvenile’s hands, he rushed him, the juvenile said, prompting him to push his opponent off him, the report said.

“At that time, he advised that several subjects from Juvenile 2’s team jumped on top of him and pushed him to the ground,” police said. “He said that he believed that four people were on top of him and that someone, he believed Juvenile 2, had struck him in the head.”

Police noted a small abrasion on the left part of the player’s forehead.

“I then spoke to Juvenile 2, who advised much of the same story as Juvenile 1. However, in his version, after he slapped the ball, Juvenile 1 then shoved him without any further provocation,” police said. “He also stated that he never struck Juvenile 1, but that he himself was kicked in the back.”

During the free-for-all, several adults rushed in and attempted to break up the fight. At least one adult, Sarah Ford, 44, was injured.

Only, Ford indicated she was not struck from jabbing fists thrown by the young soccer players. She alleged another parent, John Lhota, 50, shoved her to the ground while she was attempting to break up the altercation.

Lhota alleged it was a young soccer player who pushed the woman to the ground, police said.

“I then spoke to Mr. Lhota who advised that he was also attempting to pull juveniles from the fight when he saw one of them knock against Ms. Ford, sending her to the ground,” police said. “He denied ever having pushed her.”

It is unclear if any team members were penalized by the soccer referees for participating in the fight.