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CNN Live At Daybreak

Parent Rage Rises At Colorado Kids' Hockey Game

Aired January 29, 2002 - 05:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It has happened again, parental violence at a kids hockey game, this time in Englewood, Colorado.

Reporter Shaun Boyd of CNN affiliate KCNC has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAUN BOYD, KCNC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was number one versus number two in Midget B hockey. Arvada and Arapahoe were vying for a shot at the state championship. But no one expected the rivalry to turn to rage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Men were hitting women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think everybody was appalled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the safety factor was totally ignored today.

BOYD: Richard Regan was the score keeper for the game. He says the trouble started on the ice.

RICHARD REGAN, SCORE KEEPER: The first thing that started it was a guy from Arvada taking a hack at a guy's ankle from behind him, broke his stick in three spots on the guy's ankle.

BOYD: The mother of the injured player went to check on her son. Witnesses say parents from the opposing team started heckling her. She fired back and what began as an exchange of words suddenly turned very ugly.

SGT. TERRY REIBLING, ARAPAHOE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: And before long we had 30, 30 to 35 people in a big circle down there pushing and shoving each other.

BOYD: Arapahoe Sheriff's Department arrived to break up the melee and will likely file assault charges after a mother says she was punched in the head. This just three days after a Massachusetts father was sentenced for beating another dad to death at their son's hockey game.

DIANA CATAFFO, WITNESS: And there's families upon families that got ruined because of this and now it's going to happen here? I just think it's absolutely disgusting. BOYD: Diana Cataffo, a bystander, says parents were out of control, but the manager for Arvada blames the refs.

LIZ HUDSON, ARVADA TEAM MANAGER: Actually, I think it was the refereeing for the game had incited the parents.

BOYD: In the end, 10-year-old Colton Ostermiller (ph) summed it up best.

COLTON OSTERMILLER: It's just a game.

BOYD: As this zero tolerance sign says, it hangs right beside the stands where the parents duked it out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So you can see it's really working. The Associated Press reports that four people are now charged with disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor, among them, an Aurora police department lieutenant.

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