The teen says he picked up the ball and put it in his pocket and that his attacker never asked for the ball. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.
A Long Island man is facing charges for unsportsmanlike conduct off the baseball field where his team was playing, as he allegedly attacked a teenager at a nearby skate park in a dispute over a foul ball.
Cellphone video shows what Suffolk County police said was an adult in a baseball uniform, identified as 36-year-old Andrew Chiaro, going after and grappling with the teen in the Greenlawn skate park earlier in May.
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Chiaro, of Massapequa, went to retrieve a foul ball that had gone into the skate park next to the baseball field. But things quickly took a violent turn.
"I was just really scared and angry," said 15-year-old Trent Rounsavall. "I was just thinking, no way is this happening right now. That someone I can tell is a lot older than me was putting his hands on me."
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The teen said he was attacked in the place he has always felt safe, as he often rides his boke in the skate park without any issues. But on the day of the incident, Rounsavall said several foul balls flew into the park from the adjoining baseball field. He stuck one in his pocket just to get it out of the way, he said — and that's when several adult baseball players turned angry.
"They were more yelling at me than asking for the ball back, cussing at me, calling me names," said Rounsavall. "If they had came up before and asked, 'Just give the ball back, and this can all be over.' But that never happened. They immediately came out of the dugout and started cursing at me."
Rounsavall's mother said that her son was never even asked for the ball, and he never refused to turn the ball over.
The video doesn’t show what led up to the alleged attack. According to the criminal complaint, Chiaro told Suffolk County police, "I know I shouldn’t handle the situation like I did. I just wanted my ball back."
Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth told NBC New York the adult baseball league has now banned Chiaro’s team from playing on town ballfields.
"It’s unfortunate that it got physical. We will never condone any kind of violence in our parks," Smyth said.
Chiaro’s lawyer refused to comment on Wednesday.
Rounsavall’s mom is just looking for justice, upset that police didn’t file charges until the video surfaced days after the incident, she said.
"I kind of thought that they were hoping that this went away, and I was not going to allow it to go away," said Terry Lipton, Rounsavall's mother. "The whole group of kids was intimidated and attacked. There was no peaceful interactions from these adults, that didn't happen."
Suffolk police didn’t respond to a request for comment about the four-day delay in arresting Chiaro, who is due in court in June. The town of Huntington is now considering put up netting or fencing to prevent foul balls from flying into the skate park.
