A youth basketball player stomps on another player’s head in Alameda, Calif. (KGO/YouTube).
A California youth basketball player is in trouble with more than just the refs after an on-court incident in which he stomped on another player’s head. The attack was caught on camera.
The shocking incident occurred over the weekend at a gym hosting a youth game at the College of Alameda in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Now, police are investigating.
Footage obtained by San Francisco-based ABC affiliate KGO cuts in with the ball being passed to a boy in a yellow jersey who is playing for Tumakbo United. But the receiving player is guarded and almost immediately comes under intense pressure from his right.
After the catch comes a beat and a pivot. Just as quickly, comes an apparent foul from a boy in a black jersey — who is playing for Payton’s Place. Then, the likely fouled Tumakbo player falls to the hard maple along with the likely fouling Payton’s Place player.
Next, the two players scrap, scrabble, and scramble for control of the ball — with the Tumakbo player fully down and maintaining control and the Payton’s Place player falling on his knees and trying to poke and prod the ball away. As the furious dash for possession drags on, the Payton’s Place player clearly and repeatedly fouls the Tumakbo player by pulling on his jersey and then again by grabbing his right leg.
While, in the parlance of Dr. Naismith’s game, the yellow and black jerseys appear to be “tied up” — which would necessitate the play eventually being whistled dead and a jump ball being called — the details of the foul situation are more clear in hindsight.
In real-time, however, the play was allowed to continue, and a double team swarmed on the yellow jersey.
That’s when the second Payton’s Place player reared up high with his right leg and then snapped his foot down on the side of the fallen Tumakbo player’s head, the footage shows. The referee finally whistles and nearly instantly collides with the boy who stomped, tangling the 13-year-old up in his arms to stop the violence.
“He was down on the floor and this kid just came and just stomped on him and on his head,” Eva Guingab, the victim’s mother, told KGO. “You could clearly see the size of his shoe on his face. My son suffered a concussion for the first time he played basketball.”
While concussions at the highest level of the game, in the NBA, are relatively rare, one multiyear study found that concussions in high school-age boys’ basketball programs are far more common — but still fourth behind boys’ football, soccer, and wrestling, respectively.
The Guingabs said they filed a police report after the incident in order for the stomping player to understand and face the consequences and repercussions of his actions.
“If we don’t say anything right now, this kid will think it’s OK to do it because he’s young,” the victim’s mother told the TV station. “He thinks that walking away from this situation is OK, and it’s not OK.”
The victim was placed in concussion protocol. His parents said he suffered headaches for days after the attack.
The attacker is not currently playing basketball for Payton’s Place and is seeking treatment for emotional issues, the basketball program told KGO. They also said he was being bullied online over the incident.
“There is footage circulating of one of our team’s games this past weekend,” Payton’s Place said in a statement posted on Instagram. “Unfortunately, the footage is not a positive representation of our team and our values. The behavior that was exhibited by our player is not acceptable, and is being taken seriously. We do not condone violence. Our players are expected to conduct themselves with integrity on and off the court. At this time, both teams are working together to resolve this matter.”
Law&Crime reached out to the Alameda Police Department for additional details and comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
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