Inset: Kiarious Hall and Jazmine Hall (Fort Bend County Jail). Background: Imperial Park in Sugar Land, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas couple was arrested after an argument at a youth softball game in suburban Sugar Land escalated into a violent confrontation, according to law enforcement officials.
Kiarious Hall, 36, faces two counts of assault causing bodily injury. His wife, Jazmine Hall, 36, faces one count of assault causing bodily injury, according to Fort Bend County court records.
The incident unfolded at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Imperial Park on East U.S. Route 90 in Sugar Land, a large suburb approximately 20 miles southwest of Houston.
Sugar Land police arrived at the park around 7:40 p.m. and questioned the couple about the confrontation, according to charging documents obtained by Houston-based Fox affiliate KRIV.
Kiarious Hall told officers that he and his wife had attended the girls’ youth softball game to support their daughter. He said they were cheering when a man approached them and objected to the noise, telling him he “couldn’t cheer before the players pitched the ball.” Hall continued cheering, according to police.
The dispute intensified when a second man joined the argument and also complained about the cheering. Hall said one of the men elbowed him in the chest. He told officers the physical confrontation began only after the second man grabbed him and poked him in the chest.
Hall allegedly acknowledged punching that man in the face, causing him to fall and strike his head on the ground. According to police, Hall said the impact left the man unconscious.
Police said a physical confrontation then broke out between Hall and the first man before the two eventually separated.
Investigators spoke with witnesses at the park and reviewed video recordings of the incident. The camera angle did not clearly establish whether either man had initially attacked Hall.
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The footage did appear to show Hall swinging a metal water bottle and striking one man in the face, according to state police. That man was the person who fell and reportedly lost consciousness. Hall allegedly swung the bottle again, hit the other man and continued fighting with him, police said.
The video also allegedly shows Jazmine Hall entering the confrontation and pushing the first man, according to law enforcement.
The first man later discussed the incident with local ABC affiliate KTRK.
“We’re saying, ‘Hey, why are you getting loud?’ It’s bad sportsmanship to do it right as the pitch comes up when our girls are batting, and that’s all it took,” he told the station. “He just flipped and said, ‘I can do whatever I want, I can say whatever I want. And you can’t stop me.’”
He also described trying to stop the violence, telling KTRK: “I said, ‘You can’t do this.’ I took him, I wanted to disarm the guy, because he’s going to do it to somebody else.”
The man allegedly struck with the metal water bottle suffered a broken jaw, a fractured skull and brain bleeds, according to his attorney.
The other man said Jazmine Hall tackled him into nearby bushes. He told the television station that he suffered chin injuries requiring seven stitches, extensive scrapes and a broken hip.
“It’s medieval times like we’re going to smash each other in the head with something,” the first man said.
Sugar Land police later arrested the couple and booked them into the Fort Bend County Jail. Both defendants subsequently posted bond and were released.
Earlier this week, Jazmine Hall resigned as an assistant principal at Lamar Junior High School in nearby Rosenberg.
