A Florida mother ran onto a youth football field during a fight between players and kicked a 13-year-old opponent while he was on the ground, deputies said.
The May 2 confrontation happened during a Pop Warner game at Brooks Park in Fort Myers. Video recorded from the sideline shows players piling into an on-field fight before an adult enters the scrum and appears to kick a player on the turf.
Lee County sheriff’s deputies working at the park identified the woman as 34-year-old Renee Lambert. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office later released body-camera footage showing deputies confronting Lambert away from the field.
Lambert insisted that she had been hit first and directed deputies toward a player wearing No. 9. The exchange produced a blunt response from one deputy: “You’re an adult.”
Off The Sideline
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The trouble began after a play when players from the two teams became involved in a physical confrontation. Parents and coaches then moved onto the field as adults tried to separate them.
A witness told deputies that Lambert kicked a juvenile male multiple times, according to the probable-cause account cited by ABC News. The player later told deputies that she kicked him in the leg. Deputies reported finding no visible injuries.
Kurtis Jones, who recorded the sideline video, told Gulf Coast News that tension had been building during the game before the fight broke out.
Lambert told deputies a player had struck her with his helmet and that she fought back. The sheriff’s office said its review of the available evidence did not support that account.
“I’m The One”
Body-camera footage shows the encounter becoming confrontational when deputies tried to detain Lambert.
“So you’re mad at them for hitting me?” Lambert asked.
“I’m mad at an adult for attacking a kid,” a deputy replied.
When the deputy told her she was detained, Lambert answered, “No, I’m not. Goodbye.”
She pulled away as deputies attempted to handcuff her and repeatedly told them to get their hands off her. She also demanded that they find the player she identified as No. 9.
“A kid?” the deputy asked.
“Yes,” Lambert replied.
“You’re an adult.”
Two Arrest Counts
Lambert was arrested that day on counts of child abuse without great bodily harm and resisting an officer without violence.
The probable-cause account says she later complained of head pain and was taken to a hospital for an examination before being booked into the Lee County Jail. Jail information reported at the time showed she was released the following day.
Southwest Florida Panthers Youth Football President Jose Davila told Gulf Coast News the organization had “zero tolerance” for the behavior and said the incident did not represent the Fort Myers Falcons program.
The Fort Myers Falcons separately said Lambert had been banned from its events and activities and that the organization would cooperate with the law-enforcement investigation.