During Game 2 of The American League Championship Series in Houston, a season-ticket holder was said to have slapped another fan in the back of the head multiple times.
James Warren Dinkins, an Astros fan, was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury, according to ABC13.
“He’s a big guy with long arms, so he just reached back and slapped him on the face,” said Lea Menchaca, who was sitting in the same section and witnessed the incident.
“(Dinkins) reached back and slammed him on the face, five times, like repeated five time slap,” recalled Menchaca, who says the Yankees fan was attending the game with his mother. “As soon as that happened the mom was like, ‘No you don’t touch him, what are you doing?'”
The victim in this case, Manuel Bitolas, is a Yankees fan living in West Texas. Reached on the phone today, Bitolas says he cheered on the Yankees and Dinkins then exchanged words with him. Bitolas said he thought Dinkins was just joking, not realizing he was actually angry.
“I told him something and patted his shoulder and he said, ‘Don’t f-ing touch me,'” recalled Bitolas, who was sitting next to his mother. “I bent over to get my drink and he like hit me. And I was kind of surprised about it.”
The slapping incident was said to be captured on video surveillance in the ballpark.
“I have not seen an assault in the stands happen, which is why the allegation is so concerning,” said Chief of Misdemeanor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office Beedle. “I would just say common sense is not to be touching anyone else period, generally. I would stick away from that, regardless of the venue.”
That Astros fan was not only a headache to the Yankees fans, but he seems to get on the nerves of fellow Astros fans as well.
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“It gets old. Like every time someone cheers, whether it’s for the Astros or against the Astros, I get nervous,” said Menchaca. “I don’t know if this guy was going to react. It makes it unenjoyable for everyone around him.”
