A resident of Long Island has been taken into custody for allegedly attacking a teen over a baseball. The incident was caught on camera, showing the young person reacting in shock to the sudden attack. Andrew Chiaro, 36, was arrested on May 25 and charged with endangering a minor’s welfare and misdemeanor assault for the incident that took place on May 21, as reported by CBS News.
15-year-old Trent Rounsvall recalled that he and his friends were doing bike tricks at the Greenlawn State Park in Huntington, which is near a baseball field. He shared that a baseball almost hit him in the head, and he decided to pick it up and place it in his pocket. At that point, adult men from the baseball game came over and started swearing at him.
The video footage showed Chiaro, wearing a No. 16 jersey, attempting to reach the teen’s pocket before pulling him away from his bicycle and pushing him against a chain fence. One of the people witnessing the scene shouted that Chiaro was attacking a minor. Rounsvall mentioned that he was thinking this could not be happening, that someone much older than him was putting his hands on him.
His mother, Terry Lipton, said that her son was emotionally affected by the incident. She told CBS News that he was crying, which she had not witnessed before. Lipton also said that the police believed the adult baseball players who claimed the teen and his friends were trying to disrupt their game until the video evidence was presented. Lipton has asked Suffolk Internal Affairs to look into the police response.
The family wants Chiaro to receive consequences for his actions and his baseball team has been banned from playing on Huntington’s fields. The Long Island Stan Musial Baseball League is also considering a lifetime ban for Chiaro. He has a past arrest for weapons possession and is due to appear in court next month.