A Black husband and wife are now fighting assault charges in Texas after an unidentified man ended up hospitalized with serious injuries due to a dispute at a youth girls softball game.
Kiarious Hall and Jazmine Hall were at Imperial Park in Sugar Land, Texas, last Saturday watching and cheering while their daughter competed in a 12-and-under youth girls softball game.
A man, later identified as Gary Greaser according to FOX 26 Houston, approached Kiarious to confront him about cheering right before a player was about to pitch the ball during the game.
Kiarious later told police that he declined to stop cheering, and then another unidentified man later walked up to the dispute involving Greaser and Kiarious.
Much of what happened next was captured on video, which can be seen below, as Kiarious was seen striking the unidentified white man with a metal water bottle, causing the man to fall to the ground, hit his head, and go unconscious.
While attempting to argue he acted in self-defense, Kiarious told police that Greaser elbowed him and the unidentified man he knocked out grabbed him and poked him in the chest.
However, police ultimately arrested Kiarious and Jazmine Hall after she jumped in to throw punches at Greaser, who sustained lacerations on his forehead, chin, arms, and knees during the altercation.
The unidentified man who was struck with the water bottle remained hospitalized as of Tuesday after suffering a skull fracture, a fractured cheekbone, three brain bleeds, and a blood clot.
Kiarious is charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury, and his wife faces one count on the same charge. They later both were released from custody on bond while awaiting a future court date.
Some social media users responded with strong reactions to the incident after the video went viral.
“This was attempted murder,” X user @griffith_allie argued. “I hope the charges get elevated. That fencing pose is a sign the brain is injured.”
“They are going to get sued as well,” X user @withoakleys speculated. “Basically going to lose everything because they couldn’t control themselves.”
While the ultimate outcome remains to be seen, Jazmine, who worked as an assistant principal at Lamar Junior High School, self-reported the incident to the school district’s human resources department. She later resigned from her position as the assistant principal, effective on Oct. 26.
Steve Shellist, an attorney hired by the hospitalized man involved in the violent altercation, argued that the charge against Kiarious should be upgraded to felony aggravated assault instead of the current misdemeanor charges he is facing.
“When you strike someone with an object that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death, whether it’s a stick, a gun, a knife, or a metal cup, that is an aggravated assault, which is a felony, and it’s on video,” Shellist told FOX 26.
“There was no aggression on the part of my client at all,” Shellist added. “There wasn’t even an intent to be aggressive. It was just a, ‘Hey, let’s calm down.’ It would be anything that I think any of us would do if we went up and we saw anybody getting aggressive with someone who was in our elderly population. I think any one of us would have stood up and said, ‘Hey, let’s diffuse this, let us calm down.'”
Time will tell if the Halls are eventually found liable for the injuries suffered by the two men last weekend. Jazmine’s next court date is reportedly scheduled for Nov. 4.
