Woman Charged in Case of Dodgeball Gone Seriously Wrong

Woman Charged in Case of Dodgeball Gone Seriously Wrong

In what some are calling a case of “dodgeball rage,” a Wisconsin woman was arrested after getting violent with a child who threw a dodgeball at her face during a game at a local park.

Milwaukee resident Dominique Jude, 27, admitted to police that she became enraged when both she and her son were hit in the face with dodgeballs at the local Sky Zone indoor kid’s play park.

Sky Zone specializes in dodgeball programs and even sponsors tournaments for the game.

A witness reported that the woman grabbed a 12-year-old boy who was playing the game and began screaming obscenities at him. The witness said she “was yelling for the other people in the dodgeball area to hit the child with dodgeballs in the face.”

Jude told WISN TV that some fault lies with the personnel running the private park for not intervening even after she and her son were harmed.

Jude did admit to the media that she grabbed the boy but insists she was just trying to protect her son from being bullied by other kids during the dodgeball game.

The woman also claimed the whole incident has been blown out of proportion.

If convicted, Jude could get 90 days in jail.

In recent decades, dodgeball has gained a bad reputation among educators. The game has been criticized as “too violent” and for being an “elimination game” that may hurt children’s feelings. As a result, many schools have ended the practice of allowing dodgeball in physical education classes.

Another reason schools have banished the game from school gyms across the country is fear of lawsuits.

“Generally speaking, the game is a litigation waiting to happen,” Neil Williams, a physical education professor at Eastern Connecticut University, wrote as far back as the 1990s.

As ABC News reported back in 2001, “The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, which represents more than 18,000 gym teachers and physical education professors, no longer advocates dodge ball.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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