SEQUIM — A visiting parent’s behavior at a basketball game at Sequim High School last week is being investigated as a gross misdemeanor.
But it will be up to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to carry it off the basketball court to a courtroom.
The unidentified Gig Harbor parent took Peninsula High School’s loss to Sequim in the Class 3A girls basketball playoffs last Thursday night a little too seriously as he started punching the Peninsula coach after the game.
High school sports violence was hitting a little too close to home for Sequim coaches, players and fans, who witnessed the fisticuffs that lasted just a few seconds.
“You can’t do that sort of thing,” Sequim Police Sgt. Sheri Crain said about the incident.
“That’s unacceptable.”
Sequim police are investigating the incident as a gross misdemeanor or simple assault, Crain said.
The investigation probably will last a “few more days to a week,” she added. Then it will be up to the Clallam prosecutors to determine whether to bring criminal charges.
Distance a factor
Normally, the investigation would be over by now, but because most of the witnesses and the victims live in Gig Harbor, the probe is taking longer, according to Crain.
“A lot of people have been coming up to me and asking if we are investigating it,” she said.
The game was a do-or-die West Central District pigtail playoff game (district qualifier) between the Sequim Wolves and the Peninsula Seahawks of Gig Harbor.
The Wolves won 56-41 and advanced to the district tournament.
At the end of the game — about 9:30 p.m. when the girls from both teams were shaking hands — the male parent walked onto the floor and began screaming at Peninsula head coach Jerrod Fleury.
As the stunned players and other coaches watched, the parent hit Fleury in the face.
According to witnesses, people in the crowd were breaking the two apart when an assistant Peninsula coach stepped in and hit the parent in the face twice.
