Brawling mother and father smash kindergarten commencement with girls’s ‘heads stapled’
A violent brawl broke out at a kindergarten graduation ceremony at Queen of Apostles School in Toledo, Ohio, after a woman was accused of taking up too many seats and blocking other parents’ views of their children’s big day
The parents went at it in front of the kids(Image: INSTAGRAM/cbsnews/Rosa Gomez Hernandez)
A savage brawl erupted at an Ohio kindergarten graduation after a woman was accused of hogging too many seats and obstructing other parents’ views during their children’s special day.
Craig Mays, one of the parents attending the Thursday morning ceremony at Queen of Apostles School, said the fracas began when a separate family seized their own chairs and started establishing their own seating area.
This left his daughter’s mother unable to see, causing the confrontation to intensify with 28-year-old Jessica Anderson, who was positioned directly behind them at the ceremony in Toledo, roughly 240 miles north of Columbus, close to the Michigan border.
“The girl behind me she’s just talking, just cussing, talking crazy,” Mays told WTVG. “Calling us weird and saying we need to mind our business.”
Following a brief row, Mays said Anderson’s family of ten – five men and five women in the front two rows – suddenly launched an assault on them.
“I literally don’t remember anything,” Mays said. “I just know I was sucker punched.”
Mays said a gang of four or five men started booting him in the head while he was on the ground, prompting his daughter’s mother to step in and begin scrapping with Anderson.
“She grabbed my kid’s mom by her hair, pulled her away from me, started punching her face then maybe five or six other girls came and trampled her and were just stomping her, kicking her in the face,” Mays added.
Footage of the incident showed the group of battling parents tumbling over chairs and sprawling across the gymnasium floor. Anderson was nicked, charged with grievous bodily harm and taken to the Lucas County Jail.
As of Friday, it appeared that no one else had been charged in relation to the brawl, despite the video showing several adults involved in the fracas.
Mays, who also works as a reception class teacher, expressed his heartbreak at missing his daughter’s graduation due to the melee.
“I know how hard those kids work [and] I know how hard those teachers work for us just to ruin it and be selfish like that,” he shared with the outlet.
Mays revealed he was contemplating withdrawing his daughter from the school following the incident.
“I probably won’t send my daughter back there next year,” he told WTOL. “Just based on this situation.”
The Queen of Apostles School is a Catholic institution with 120 pupils, which prides itself on being “especially dedicated to serving the Hispanic population of its neighbourhood.”
The mother of Mays’ daughter was rushed to A&E for treatment, he added.
“She got staples in her head. She was bleeding. Her wrist is pretty messed up. Both her knees are pretty bad,” Mays said. “It was a very bad day for my family.”
