TALLADEGA — An altercation that got out of hand at the Talladega Municipal Sports Complex Tuesday night left at least three people — including Mayor Brian York — with minor injuries and the city awash in rumors.Talladega Police Captain of Investigation Ronny Jones said Wednesday police responded immediately and the crowd was dispersed without further incident.
Although three individuals, including Mayor York, filed incident and offense reports with the police Tuesday night, Municipal Court Clerk Rick Nixon said no arrests had been made as of Wednesday afternoon.
“Right now, we’re still going through witness statements,” he said. “Most of the details are consistent throughout, but there are also some big differences in some of them, and that will take a little while to sort out. There probably will not be any warrants issued until next week.”
Nixon also provided few details Wednesday, saying, “You had some parents getting rowdy, and a dispute got started. You may have had some adults directing some obscenities at the kids, and things got out of hand.”
According to Nixon and Jones, most of the people involved in the fracas were not actually from Talladega. Of the two other individuals who also filed reports Tuesday night, one was a white woman from Alpine and the other was a black woman from Ashland.
According to York, who was there watching his son play on a different field than the one where the fight broke out, the tension started mounting when an umpire called a game with two strikes remaining, even though it was the bottom of the ninth inning and the winning team was at bat. Some insults were exchanged, and eventually a white woman and a black woman appeared ready to come to blows.
York said Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Brian Hutton had gone to the ticket stand, but he and Councilman Donnie Miller heard the affray on the neighboring field, and York attempted to intervene.
“I got between the two ladies, and one of them grabbed my face and scratched me there, and on my neck and chest,” York said, displaying the still fresh scratches. “The next thing I know, someone hit me in the back of the head and knocked me down. The next thing I know I must have been in the middle of 50 people. Everything was going in slow motion for me at the time, but looking back, it probably only lasted about 10 seconds before the police got there.”
York added that he did not know either of the women and did not know for certain any details of what might have led to the altercation.
He also said it was the black woman who had scratched him, and witnesses said the individual who hit him in the head was a black male.
The Alpine woman refused to comment on the situation outright. The Ashland woman said she might be willing speak on the record, but wanted to clear it with the league first.
Miller said Wednesday the sports complex would be closed until Monday, and all games scheduled for the remainder of the week would be cancelled.
Miller also downplayed the significance of the events.
“We had basically a fight between two women, and the mayor got involved,” he said. “It was a situation out on the field, and it will be addressed.”
Few other details were readily available Wednesday. Billy Wallace, who was coaching one of the teams involved, said he had already retained legal counsel and had been advised not to speak to the media.
