A 56-year-old Hackensack man was charged with assault after a fight on the sideline of a youth football game Sunday, police say. The game was a homecoming matchup, which is a lot of pageantry to end with a summons.
The key facts, per police and Patch:
- Who: Hector Garcia, 56, of Hackensack, was charged. Deputy Police Chief Gregory Zisa said both men in the fight live in Hackensack.
- The game: The Hackensack Junior Comets hosted the Jersey City Jets for homecoming at Hackensack High School.
- The league: Both teams play in the All-County Football League, which is for kids in eighth grade and under.
- The charge: Garcia was charged with assault under a New Jersey statute covering violence at community or school-sponsored youth sports events when a child 15 or younger is present, Zisa confirmed.
- The outcome: Garcia was issued a summons and released.
Why this one stands out
New Jersey has a statute written specifically for youth sports violence, which says plenty about how often this stuff happens. The law applies when a child 15 or younger is present, and at a game for eighth graders and under, that describes basically every person on the sideline who isn't holding a clipboard or a camera.
That's the whole deal here. A fight between two adults at a kids' game doesn't get treated as just a scuffle. It gets its own line in the criminal code, and the folding chairs don't count as a neutral zone.
Patch's report doesn't say what set off the fight, and police haven't offered details on what led to it.
For now, the facts are simple: homecoming, a sideline, two grown men, and a summons.
Source: Ridgewood-Glen Rock, NJ Patch