A video showing a parent and volunteer coach laying
hands on a wrestler during a match in Napa.
Oh, it's got a lot of people talking online locally.
Shira Matsuzawa joins us now with a look at that
video and what the parties involved are saying about it.
She a lot of people asking about this. Yeah, Joe.
And you'll hear from them in just a moment.
But we should note K TV B has done several stories with the wrestling
coach at the center of this incident in the past and he's a former wrestler
and local entrepreneur
wrestling match between Rocky Mountain High School and Nisa
High school.
It
went from
a 0 to 100 pretty quick.
This is what it looked like as wrestlers from both schools were on the mat.
One video shows volunteer coach and parent
of the Rocky Mountain wrestler Russell Brunson
runs on to the mat
in the video. You can see Brunton put his hands on the
student wrestler.
I've just never seen anybody actually make it
to the wrestling mat
and
physically put hands on a wrestler. Bobby DeLeone
is the head wrestling coach for
NSA.
There really no excuse for that regardless of whatever the situation was. Kay Tibby
spoke with Bronson via text message. He sent us a statement saying
there is no excuse for my actions on January 20th.
I should not have stepped onto the mat and tried to break up the wrestling match.
I saw my child in a potentially dangerous position and reacted rashly.
I've reached out to the family directly
and sincerely apologized for my inappropriate reaction.
I was extremely disappointed when I heard what had happened.
Ty Jones is the executive director of
the Idaho High School Activities Association.
He says in his 10 years with the association,
he has never seen something like this happen in Idaho.
Unfortunately, I've seen it in other states,
but I can't recall something since I've been the executive director
where we've had a parent or a coach,
put their hands on a, on a kid.
There's no place ever
for a, for a fan or a
general spectator or a coach or an official to
ever put their hands on a high school kid.
On Wednesday, the third district board of control.
President Craig Woods told K TB B the
board which helps oversee high school athletics.
Reviewed the video
as well as a letter from Bronson.
We discuss what, what would be the consequences,
what would be a fair and just consequence, I guess for the, for the situation.
Um, the team walked through a lot of scenarios and
we, um,
it was a unanimous decision. It was a motion was made to suspend
the coach indefinitely as a high school coach for Idol high school associations.
Um and then also suspension from being a spectator
from all athletic events.
Iowa High school athletic events through the 2425 school year
K TV B reached out to Brunson about that ban.
He said the most heartbreaking thing
is that they won't allow him to watch his son's matches his senior year.
He goes on to say, I wish I wouldn't have reacted the way I did.
But these are the consequences of my reaction and I have to live with that.
In a statement,
the West Ada school district told KTVB coach Brunson
has voluntarily resigned from his position as coach.
Further acknowledging the impact of his actions
as a school district.
We take these matters seriously and are
conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.
The parents of the NSA
wrestler sent KT VA statement which read in part
on this particular morning, a coach slash father saw their kid
and athlete in a completely legal non threatening but uncomfortable move
saw the uncomfort in his child
and reacted in an unacceptable way.
And a 14 year old was hit by an adult.
A major line was crossed and consequences have to follow
our kid did nothing wrong,
right. He has, he has nothing to be sorry about.
Uh Mr Bronson's son apologized to me. He has nothing to be sorry.
About, they wrestled, they, they did what they, they set out to do that morning.
Right. Neither of them have anything to apologize for that.
That's part of our sport.
Um,
and, and,
you know, discomfort occurs.
The parents of the NSA
wrestler also say they hope that everyone can be a little kinder, more patient,
slower to anger and judgment and give each other
a little bit of grace as everyone makes mistakes.
But of course, Joe, you know,
we'll have all of these statements on our website at K tv.com and I know we've
gotten a lot of messages and emails over
the last several days asking about the details.
And as you just touched on,
there's the story comprehensive at K TV b.com.
All right. She reporting here on the news at six. Thanks so much. She.