Poor parental behavior in youth sports reached a new low near Milwaukee when a father ran onto the field and tripped a 9-year-old football player racing for the end zone, police said.
Video of the incident, which quickly went viral, captured the moment Saturday at Case High School in Racine, where the Racine Youth Eagles hosted the Milwaukee Colts.
An Eagles ball carrier had turned the left edge and had a clear path to the pylon when, out of nowhere, a man wearing black shorts and a black T-shirt ran onto the field, video showed.
The man extended his left foot and swept the runner’s legs out from under him, causing the player to crash to the grass short of a touchdown.
“During the game, a parent from the visiting team became upset over a play, walked onto the field, and tripped a 9-year-old player,” Mount Pleasant police said in a statement.
“A spectator captured the incident on video, while another parent followed the suspect’s vehicle as he left the grounds. Officers located the vehicle shortly after and conducted a traffic stop,” the statement said. “The suspect, a 41-year-old Milwaukee man, admitted to the act and was issued a citation for disorderly conduct.”
The Colts were awarded a touchdown on that play, and referees called the game early in hopes of defusing tensions between the victorious hosts and the defeated visitors.
Terrence Ryan Bradshaw was pulled over at 11:07 a.m. Saturday on Highway 20 near Oakes Road, less than half a mile away from Case High School, Mount Pleasant police records show.
Bradshaw told officers he apologized to players and coaches for losing his cool because “there was just some bigger kids (on the other team) than my kid,” according to police body camera footage of the stop.
Bradshaw said he was only trying to “stop the game,” though his actions stunned officers.
“I mean it’s kids. Kids!” police officer Nicole Knierim told Bradshaw.
Bradshaw explained he was afraid his son might get hurt.
“I got scared, really,” he told police. “My son broke his arm twice already, so when I saw him flip like that it just — I was trying to stop the game, really.”
Knierim and her partner discussed the case and agreed Bradshaw deserved a disorderly conduct citation.
“So there were these kids playing a game. The kids on the other team are bigger than his kids, and it was he felt it was just like getting a little too much or whatever,” Knierim said to her partner.
“And he says ‘I got my feelings or whatever,’ so he didn’t kick him. He says he went out there to stop the play, and they kind of slid together. He says, ‘I apologize to everybody.’”
Bradshaw does not have to appear in court if he pays the $313 fine, police said.
The 9-year-old player “was thankfully not injured,” police added.
Prosecutors reviewed the incident and determined it did not amount to felony child abuse, letting the disorderly conduct citation stand, the Racine County District Attorney’s Office said.
