An Eastern Kentucky University football player and his father walked up to his coach in a parking lot following EKU’s homecoming game Oct. 25. There was “chatter,” “a bit of shoving” and “finger pointing.”
Then Eastern Kentucky redshirt junior defensive back Charles Ingram V dropped the items in his hands, removed his backpack from both shoulders and sucker punched his coach, just seconds after his father had done the same.
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That’s all based on an arrest report made by police following a video review of the incident captured by a camera on the Moberly Building, which sits on the southeast edge of the parking lot, according to EKU campus maps.
While he recounted what happened to police, Eastern Kentucky defensive secondary coach Rashad Watson bled from his mouth, the report states.
Watson told police he wanted to pursue criminal charges.
Ingram V, 22, and his father, Charles Ingram IV, 47, were arrested by Eastern Kentucky University police and charged on the same three charges:
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assault in the fourth degree (minor injury)
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disorderly conduct in the second degree
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criminal mischief in the first degree
Criminal mischief is a felony-level charge.
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Both were booked into the Madison County Detention Center between 9 and 10 p.m. on Oct. 25 and released on a $2,500 bond on Oct. 27, per court records.
The football player and his father are set for arraignment in Madison District Court on Nov. 3.
EKU suspended Ingram from the team.
A post-game altercation
The homecoming game against Tarleton State kicked off at 3 p.m. at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond.
Just after 6 p.m., in the Van Hoose Lot, located west of the stadium, an EKU police officer who was working a traffic position wrote he was advised of a fight in progress and observed “10-15 individuals arguing, pushing and shoving.”
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While requesting additional units, he saw punches being thrown.
Once other units arrived and the fight was broken up, the EKU officer said in his report that he first spoke with Watson.
“Watson advised that after some arguing and finger pointing over a disagreement related to his coaching, that the father, Ingram IV, punched Watson in the face with a closed fist,” the officer wrote.
Then, the citation states, one of Watson’s defensive backs punched him with a closed fist.
“A fight ensued as he was defending himself,” the officer wrote.
Both the father and son told Brandon Collins, EKU Chief of Police, that they weren’t sure who threw the first punch.
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“Ingram V then continued that at one point he had ‘pushed’ Watson on the side of the face,” the arrest citation states.
Ingram tallied one solo tackle and one pass break-up during EKU’s 31-7 loss to Tarleton State.
In a statement, EKU said: “Following Saturday night’s football game, Rashad Watson, a member of the EKU football coaching staff, was assaulted by an EKU student-athlete and one of their family members, in the stadium parking lot.
The police broke up the altercation, and after the initial on-site investigation, Watson was released. The two other individuals were placed under arrest. The student-athlete is suspended from the football team. This is an ongoing investigation.”
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Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter. Reach her at skuzydym@courier-journal.com or on social at @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Eastern Kentucky football player “sucker punches” coach after game
