Man slammed by school employee after running onto O.C. high school football field with ‘vulgar’ flag
One of the biggest hits of the Anaheim Katella versus La Palma Kennedy high school football game happened off the field Friday night when a school employee slammed a 20-year-old man who ran onto the field with a “vulgar” flag at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.
The incident, which has gone viral on social media, is under investigation by the Anaheim Union High School District, and the Anaheim Police Department said a case was sent over to the city attorney‘s office for review.
The man, identified by police only as a 20-year-old, was seen on video sprinting across the field carrying a black flag that read “I eat a—.”
“I question the decision-making skills of any 20-year-old male that chooses to disrupt a high school football game with a vulgar sign,” Anaheim police Sgt. Shane Carringer said.
A 19-year-old who had already finished high school was playing on the Montclair football team, according to Chaffey Joint Union Supt. Mathew Holton.
The man is seen running unimpeded until he gets to about the 10-yard line, where a man wearing headphones from the Katella High School sideline starts chasing him. The man carrying the flag tries to climb over a concrete wall, but the school employee grabs him. The two men struggle for a second, until the video shows the staff member lifting the man and slamming him to the ground.
District officials would not confirm whether the person who body-slammed the 20-year-old is a coach, but police officials said he was a staff member at Katella.
Some social media postings and news reports identified the man with the flag as a student, but Anaheim Union High School District officials and police confirmed the person was an adult and not affiliated with the two schools.
John Bautista, a spokesperson with Anaheim Union, said school district officials were notified that the man has been involved in similar incidents in the past.
“We were informed that he has done these stunts at other schools, school districts for social media purposes,” Bautista said.
Name, image and likeness issues for high school athletes as well as fan behavior are among the issues to be discussed at annual CIF commissioner meeting.
Anaheim police officers at the game contacted the 20-year-old man and issued him a trespassing warning before he was released, Carringer said. Officers also spoke with the staff member who detained the man.
Bautista did not answer questions about whether the school employee’s actions were under review, but said the incident was being investigated.
“We take these incidents very seriously, and while this is a confidential matter, the incident is under investigation,” he said.
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