A dispute at a Long Beach high school basketball game ended with a woman being pepper-sprayed and arrested Thursday night.
Police say they took the 38-year-old into custody on suspicion of battery for allegedly hitting a school safety officer who was escorting a man out of the gym at Browning High School in Long Beach.
The incident occurred immediately after a basketball game between Wilson and Cabrillo high schools, who were playing at Browning because of a leak in Wilson’s gym, according to The562, which first reported what happened.
The562 reported that Wilson had just beaten Cabrillo, with a playoff spot on the line, and the two teams were shaking hands when a parent of a Wilson High School student tried to confront the team’s coach.
“Less than ten seconds after I finish the handshake line a dad is there trying to get at me, to fight me or choke me out or something, trying to get to me,” Wilson coach James Boykin told The562.
A campus security officer quickly stepped and restrained the man, according to The562.
While the campus security officer was escorting the man out of the gym, a woman hit the officer in the face, according to The562.
The security officer wasn’t injured, but once outside of the gym, the woman got into a fight with another woman, police said. The fight ended when the second woman pepper-sprayed the woman who’d hit the officer, police said.
Police said the woman who’d hit the security officer was taken to the Long Beach Jail where she was released shortly after being booked.
The chaotic end to the basketball game comes during a year where two coaches have resigned midseason, saying they were subject to abusive behavior from parents.
“Some of these parents are out of control,” Boykin told The562. “It’s just the climate right now as far as what they’re doing. It’s unfortunate because the kids at this point seem to be more reasonable and level-headed than some of the parents.”
A spokesperson with Long Beach Unified School District did not immediately respond to questions from the Long Beach Post.