A Florida woman was taken into custody on suspicion of kicking a boy at a youth football game during an on-field brawl — and then claiming she had no choice because "the kid hit me" first, video of the arrest showed Tuesday.
Renee Lynn Lambert, 34, was booked on suspicion of cruelty to a child without great bodily harm and resisting an officer, according to a Lee County sheriff's arrest report.
Deputies responded to the game at Brooks Park in Fort Myers on Saturday after they "became aware of a large brawl located in the middle of the field," Sheriff’s Detective Nicholas Cittadino said in an arrest report.
Parents ran onto the field to intervene, and a witness reported seeing a woman repeatedly kicking a juvenile male, the report said.
Witnesses "quickly identified a white female who was leaving the area to have been a suspect of a battery on a juvenile," according to the report.
Lambert claimed she was hit first, and she asked deputies why they were questioning her and not the offending player, according to law enforcement video NBC News obtained Tuesday.
"So are you mad at them for hitting me?" Lambert appeared to ask deputies.
"I'm mad at an adult for attacking a kid," a male voice from behind the body camera lens responded. "Stop, you're detained right now."
"No, I'm not. Goodbye," responded the suspect, dressed in a football jersey.
Lambert could not understand why deputies were targeting her.
"Get your hands off me," she said in video. "I'm the one who got hit."
At least one witness, identified as Andre Valdes, backed up a player's allegation that he was on the ground when Lambert kicked him in the leg, Cittadino's report said.
"You are being pointed out as being a suspect; you are detained," the male voice said as Lambert and deputies began to scuffle.
Lambert appeared to identify her attacker as a player wearing a No. 9 jersey.
"So where's No. 9, go get No. 9," Lambert said during the scuffle with law enforcement.
She was led away in handcuffs as she still argued with deputies.
"She's detained because they said you hit a kid," the male voice behind the camera said.
"And the kid hit me!" Lambert responded.
Lambert could not immediately be reached for comment at publicly listed phone numbers and email addresses associated with her.
