Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Tuesday the fighting game between two Mater Dei football players that left one with a brain injury and broken nose does not meet the legal standards for criminal “hazing” or felony assault, but he is willing to consider additional evidence.
News of the fight over the past week has gone viral, overshadowing the achievements of the champion football team, its coaches and academic officials. Many have questioned why Spitzer has not filed criminal charges in the case — either against the boy who won the fight or school leaders.
Spitzer, in a statement to the Southern California News Group, explained why he viewed the altercation in the Mater Dei locker room as “mutual combat,” despite a Santa Ana police report describing the injured player as “defenseless.” Police recommended felony assault charges against the victor.
“This incident has been thoroughly investigated by law enforcement and reviewed blow by blow by the most experienced prosecutors in my office to see if we could prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” Spitzer said. “We cannot.”
Spitzer continued that neither player participated against their will in the game, which appears to be a tradition on the Mater Dei football team called “bodies.”
“The participants knew they were being filmed and they started throwing punches. Some punches landed; others did not, but it is unequivocally clear that both participants attempted to land as many punches as possible,” Spitzer said. “There is not a single shred of evidence to show that this was anything other than a mutual combat situation with two willing participants who traded blow for blow, including repeated punches to each other’s heads. That does not make it acceptable. But it is not a crime.”
He added that no one, not even the participants, tried to stop the fight until after the damage had been done.
“At no time did one of the players in the fight tell the other player to stop, even when the punches became head shots and attempted head shots. When another (observer) said stop, both players stopped throwing punches,” Spitzer said.
The Southern California News Group is not naming the two participants because they are juveniles, but is describing the injured player as Player 1 and the other as Player 2. Player 1 weighed about 50 pounds less than Player 2.
The rules of the “bodies” game are few — players punch at each other’s torsos until one gives up. No punches are allowed below the belt or to the face. However, during the game in question, both players started swinging at each other’s faces, according to two videos of the altercation obtained by Southern California News Group and a lawsuit by the injured player.
Midway through the fight, Player 2 landed one punch and then a second to Player 1’s face.
Player 2 “punched (Player 1) on the right side of the face with his left hand before (Player 1) could strike,” said the Santa Ana police report by Detective. David Angel….
The above comes from a Nov. 30 story in the Orange County Register.
It should have been stopped immediately after the first face blow was given. Where were the referees?
I take back what I posted in my first post, as I did not see the blue link to another report with more information, and I do not have time to read it all.
Mater Dei
Mother of God !
This brutal, violent behavior should be strictly illegal. A brain injury is extremely serious. Very shocking for a so-called “civilized” and “Catholic” school, which parents pay good money to, for a good and decent education for their kids, steeped in the teachings of Christ. Are the school administrators at Mater Dei seeking to form good Catholic young men? Or ignorant, brutal, violent, uncivilized beasts?
Over the years, I have known quite a few parents who would not allow their sons to play football, because it is a dangerous sport. Many boys end up with concussions, brain injuries, and many other serious injuries, as teenagers. College and pro football is very dangerous, too.
Teenagers have the judgement of teenagers. Do not leave them unsupervised.
Boyz will be boyz
This article fails to address the negligence on behalf of school administrators and team trainers. The horribly injured player suffered a concussion, brain damage, and several lacerations to the head. The trainers insisted on taping up players for practice before seeking medical attention to the injured player. School admins told Santa Ana pd they would do an internal investigation. Please give all thinking persons a break and admit, the admin at Mater Dei behave like a whore house for parents wanting their kids to play for a championship team and will do anything to cover up abominable practices.
“the boy who won the fight”? The “victor”? Who wrote this crap? There was no “victor”. Victim? Yes, but this hardly sounds like a fight. This was a kid going through a lame mater dei ritual to be accepted onto the team and got his face beaten in for it. Whoever wrote this really needs to pull their head out of their you-know-what. And if they want to engage in a round of “bodies”, I’m your huckleberry.