Man accused of assaulting teen at Long Island skate park over baseball
GREENLAWN, New York (WABC) -- An argument over a baseball ended in a violent attack that was caught on camera at a skate park in Suffolk County.
The video shows a man in a baseball uniform pushing and grabbing a teenager all because he refused to give him back his baseball.
Andrew Chiaro was arrested May 25 in connection to the incident that happened around 7 p.m. at Greenlawn Skatepark on May 21.
Trent Rounsavall is 6 feet tall and may look older than he is because of his physical stature, but he is only 15.
"I was just thinking no way was this actually happening right now, that someone who I can tell is a lot older than me was putting his hands on me," Rounsavall said.
On that day, Rounsavall was riding his mountain bike on the ramps, something he has done for years, but balls were flying out of the adjacent baseball field into the area where kids were dodging them.
"A ball got hit into the park, almost hit me in the head, landed pretty much right in front of me, so I picked it up, put it in my pocket," Rounsavall said.
Rounsavall's mother said Chiaro, 36, came up and slapped her son in the face demanding, "Where's my f-in ball?"
"There was no, 'hey kid, can I have the ball back'... he was attacked, the whole group of kids were intimidated," said Trent's mother Terry Lipton.
Video shows Chiaro pulling the teen by the neck, trying to throw him on the ground and throwing his friend's bike.
Chiaro was charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
"If they had come up before and just asked, just give the ball back and this could all be over, but that never happened and they immediately came out of the dug out and started cursing at me," Rounsavall said.
Lipton is now pressing for an internal affairs investigation with police as well since she says it took convincing on her end to try to get justice for her son.
She said cops gave some initial pushback.
"You're not hurt that bad, you are the same size as him, you know if we charge him with harassment, you'll just get slapped with robbery and you'll both be in cuffs," Lipton said the police told her.
Meanwhile the baseball team is now banned from playing in Huntington and Chiaro is suspended for 10 weeks. The Long Island Stan Musial Baseball League is considering a lifetime ban.
The town also now plans to put up more cage wire or mesh to prevent balls from flying out in the future.
According to the Nassau County DA's office, Chiaro had a prior arrest for weapons possession years ago and is due back in court on the new charges next month.
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