KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — A North Carolina man has been charged with assault after he charged onto the mat at a high school wrestling match and tackled his son’s opponent.
Barry Lee Jones, of Harrisburg, was charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct on Saturday, according to Kannapolis Police Department records. He’s accused of assaulting a Southeast Guilford High School student who was facing off against his son, a student at Hickory Ridge High School, a police department statement obtained by news outlets said.
Father arrested, charged after tackling Southeast Guilford student-athlete at wrestling tournament, police say https://t.co/f8403kzTpv pic.twitter.com/6dW666PepX
— FOX8 WGHP (@myfox8) January 20, 2020
Video from the match shows the opponent lifting Jones’ son and dropping him head-first to the mat before Jones rushes in and tackles the teenager. The referee had signaled that the Southeast Guilford athlete’s move was illegal, according to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
Neither student was seriously injured, police said.
Hickory Ridge Wrestling Team parents apologized to Southeast Guilford wrestlers and administrators in a Facebook post, saying the parent’s “inconceivable” actions left them “in shock, horror and disbelief.” Administrators from Hickory Ridge haven’t publicly commented.
The Guilford County Schools’ superintendent, in an interview with WGHP-TV, thanked the parents who apologized for the “unfortunate” incident.
“It just shows a society that I feel sometimes we’re just losing all decorum,” Superintendent Sharon Contreras said.
