A shocking brawl broke out between families over seating at a Catholic school’s kindergarten graduation in Ohio on Thursday, destroying the very day meant to honor their children.
One woman ended up in an emergency room. Another landed in jail.
The violence exploded at the Queen of Apostles School in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday morning after one family allegedly began hoarding rows of seats, witnesses told local affiliate WTVG.
When it was over and after police arrived, a 28-year-old woman, Jessica Anderson, was arrested and charged with felonious assault.
Anderson allegedly started cursing out parents who tried to take some of the seats she was accused of commandeering, according to WTVG.
Craig Mays, another parent of a graduating kindergartener, told the Toledo TV news outlet that he tried to calm Anderson down, but could only get a few words out.
“As I’m arguing with Jessica, I literally don’t remember anything, I just know I was sucker-punched,” Mays said.
Members of Anderson’s extended family then pounced on him, he said.
The wild video shows several people pummeling a man who lay prone on the ground, who apparently is Mays.
The video shows that when Mays’ ex-partner, and mother of his daughter, tried to step in, Anderson allegedly snagged her by the hair and dragged her away, only to continue their battle with hair pulling and punches to the head.
One of the alleged attackers is dressed in her pajamas and slippers.
Anderson allegedly slammed the mother’s head into a chair, part of the basis for the assault charges, another local TV outlet, WTOL reported.
Mays said the mother of his child was treated with “staples” in her scalp and has an injured wrist and knees.
“Yeah, it was a pretty bad day for my family,” he said. “It ruined my daughter’s graduation.”
He also said he attended Queen of Apostles as a child and said “never in a million years” would he have thought something like that brawl would ever happen at the respected parochial school.
According to one report, the children were in a separate room rehearsing the ceremony when the fighting broke out.
The school issued a statement thanking the Toledo Police Department for its quick response.
The graduation ceremony has been rescheduled.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.