Inset: Kiarious Hall and Jazmine Hall (Fort Bend County Jail). Background: Imperial Park in Sugar Land, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas couple was arrested after a youth softball game in the suburbs devolved into chaos, Lone Star State law enforcement says.
Kiarious Hall, 36, stands accused of two counts of assault causing bodily injury. His wife, Jazmine Hall, 36, stands accused of one count of assault causing bodily injury, according to Fort Bend County court records.
The incident occurred on the night of Saturday, Oct. 24, at around 7:30 p.m. in Imperial Park on East U.S. Route 90 in Sugar Land — a large suburban city roughly 20 miles southwest of Houston.
Local police arrived at the park around 7:40 p.m. and spoke to the defendants about what happened, according to charging documents obtained by Houston-based Fox affiliate KRIV.
The husband said he and his wife were at the youth girls” softball game to cheer for their daughter and did so until they were approached by a man who was upset about their cheering. Kiarious Hall said the man told him he “couldn’t cheer before the players pitched the ball,” but the defendant went on cheering, according to law enforcement.
After that, the argument continued and became an altercation as a second man came up to complain about the cheering. At this point, the defendant said one of the men elbowed him in the chest. Kiarious Hall said the fight did not start until the second man grabbed him and poked him in the chest, police said.
Kiarious Hall allegedly admitted to punching the second man in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head. Kiarious Hall said the impact rendered the man unconscious, according to police.
A physical fight ensued with the first man, but the pair eventually separated, according to police.
To verify the husband’s account, cops spoke with witnesses at the scene who showed investigators video footage of the incident. Because of the camera angle, however, it was not clear whether either man attacked Kiarious Hall first.
What is clear, according to state police, is that Kiarious Hall can be seen swinging a metal water bottle and hitting one man in the face — the man who fell down and was rendered unconscious. Then, the defendant is allegedly seen swinging the bottle again, hitting the other man, and then fighting with him, police said.
The video also allegedly shows Jazmine Hall joining the melee and pushing the first man, according to law enforcement.
The first man later spoke to local ABC affiliate KTRK.
“We’re saying ‘Hey, why are you getting loud?’ It’s bad sportsmanship to do it right as the pitch comes up when our girls are batting, and that’s all it took,” he told the TV station. “He just flipped and said, I can do whatever I want, I can say whatever I want. And you can’t stop me.”
The man also described the violence, telling KTRK, “I said ‘You can’t do this.’ I took him, I wanted to disarm the guy, because he’s going to do it to somebody else.”
The man who was allegedly hit with the water bottle suffered a broken jaw, a fractured skull and brain bleeds, according to his attorney.
The man who was allegedly tackled into the bushes by Jazmine Hall suffered chin injuries requiring seven stitches, extensive scrapes on his body and a broken hip, he told the TV station.
“It’s medieval times like we’re going to smash each other in the head with something,” the first man said.
The defendants were eventually arrested by the Sugar Land Police Department and booked in the Fort Bend County Jail. They subsequently made bond and were released.
Earlier this week, Jazmine Hall resigned from her position as an assistant principal at Lamar Junior High School in nearby Rosenberg.
