Teen Girl Faces Charges After Tackling Football Player Who Allegedly “Attacked” Her Brother
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During a middle school football game on Tuesday, Aug. 16, a 16-year-old girl ran onto the football field and tackled a player.
She says this was done in response to her brother being picked on, and the moment she tackled the player happens to have been captured on video.
Online, some say that she was exhibiting “big sister energy,” with others even quipping that she “made the best hit of the night.”
Now, she faces criminal charges.
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Watch The Moment A 16-Year-Old Girl Tackles A Football Player
On Aug. 16 in Winchester, Tennessee, South Middle School and Cornersville Middle School faced off on the football field.
The school year began just over a week earlier, on Aug. 7, but the game — and what allegedly happened on the field — are already making headlines.
Addison Hunnicutt, 16, was at the game, rooting for her little brother. When she saw him allegedly getting hurt by players on the other team, in a targeted manner, she decided to do something about it herself.
In an interview with News Channel 5, out of Nashville, Tennessee, Addison said, “Seeing what they were doing to him, and nobody stopping it, that kind of made me, like, the last choice of, ‘OK, somebody has to stop this.'”
News Channel 5 shows video that allegedly shows her brother being repeatedly punched on the ground, and it has been alleged by Addison that referees did not punish this purported action.
“‘No, I’m done watching this,'” she recalled thinking. “
Addison’s mother, Elizabeth Chumbley, told News Channel 5 that she saw her son being “attacked,” adding, “This wasn’t just a football play. This was him on the ground being physically attacked by this other player.”
Later on, Addison said, “I really do love [my brother], and I would do anything for him.”
However, Chumbley has told her daughter that her reaction to the alleged “attack” was wrong.
Video of the moment in question was originally shared to Facebook by an attendee of the game, named Nikki Holt.
In her video, Addison can be seen running, full-speed, at a middle school player, bringing him down to the ground.
Sitting up from the unexpected tackle, the middle school player is then shoved back to the ground by Addison before he’s lifted up by a coach and separated from the incident.
In response to the incident, Addison has been charged by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office with Disorderly Conduct and Assault.
Addison’s alleged actions led to the game ending early, with NBC News reporting the game was called in the third quarter, with South Middle School being awarded a win of 35-0.
The brother to Addison, whose name has been left out of press coverage, was on the Cornersville Middle School team.
Further, Addison has been banned from Franklin County School System properties for life, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office reported in a statement.
The Sheriff’s Office went on to that the TSSAA has also “banned her from Cornersville home and away games for one year.”
While these charges and other punishments have been leveled against her, her legal defense, David J. McKenzie, told News Channel 5, “I believe her little brother was actually being abused on that football field. What that other player was doing was not football.”
McKenzie goes on to say that he feels the legal action taken against Addison was an extreme measure that could’ve been avoided.
The director of the school system that Addison is in, Marshall County Director of Schools Dr. Justin Perry, told News Channel 5 in a statement:
“It is acknowledged that we had an incident last night in which a spectator ran onto the football field and struck an opposing team player. The school and the district are cooperating with TSSAA and local law enforcement to the fullest extent. We are deeply disappointed by the incident and remain committed to player, staff, and fan safety and a high level of sportsmanship. Since the spectator is a student in the Marshall County School System, the district cannot comment further.”
See her tackle a football player, here:
Watch Addison Hunnicutt, her mother, and her attorney, speak on the incident at the middle school football game, here.
This is a developing story.
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