Police charged three parents — including the town prosecutor — with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct after a brawl during a youth baseball tournament put a player in a hospital, a city official said Monday.
The fight involved at least six adults during a game for 12-year-olds, and police were still trying to sort out what triggered the brawl and who was involved, KUSA-TV reported.
The defendants insisted they were trying to protect their children from attack.
"It's really unfortunate for the kids that play," said police Lt. Tim Gorman. "You're taking the whole fun part of it out."
Andrew Lee Carlson, his wife, Shannon Carlson, and Christy Ausmus, a prosecutor contracted by the town of Castle Rock, were charged after the June 26 melee, town spokeswoman Kim Mutchler told The Associated Press.
Shannon Carlson and her son said they were trying to dispute an umpire's call when the fight erupted, according to a police report. Ausmus and her own son also were at the scene in a pavilion near a ballfield.
The boys got into a dispute, and Ausmus claimed Andrew Carlson attacked her son from behind, put him in a chokehold and punched him. Ausmus said the boy, 16, eventually was hospitalized with a concussion.
"I hit (Carlson) as hard as I could, as many times as I could, to get him off my kid," Ausmus said. "He suffers constant headaches still from the concussion."
Carlson insisted he was defending his own 15-year-old son from Ausmus' son.
"This kid is assaulting my son and I pulled him off," Carlson said. "Then this lady just started attacking me. She attacked me and started punching me three or four times in the face. Then she went after my wife, punched her, pushed her over a bench."
"It's a sad day for youth baseball," Carlson said.
Castle Rock is about 30 miles south of Denver.
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Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com