A pair of Pokémon Go players, a 75-year-old man and his adult son, were convicted of submerging another player in a lake and hitting him repeatedly in a fight that apparently began on the property of a local gym.
In 2018, Robert Matteuzzi and his son Angelo were part of a Pokémon Go team trying to conquer a gym in Kirkwood Park, located in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. According to the victim, who calls himself “Sammy the Bull” in the game, a discussion about the gym led to Angelo throwing punches. In the ensuing brawl, both the victim and the young Matteuzzi fell into the one and a half meter deep water of a nearby lake.
According to the St Louis Post-Dispatch (opens in a new tab)Video provided by prosecutors in the case shows Robert Matteuzzi joining the fight shortly after. Both Matteuzzi beat the victim and kept him in the water. The victim is said to have suffered facial abrasions, a traumatic eye injury, a broken fingertip and a detached fingernail. Passers-by stopped the fight.
With the defense claiming that the Matteuzzi didn’t start the fight, Robert said he “didn’t want to be in the water”. After he was reminded that he, in fact, he had gone into the water to join the fight, he said, “When you’re 71 and get hit in the head, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
While the incident took place in 2018, the jury’s recommended ruling was announced on October 26, 2022. They recommended three days in jail for Robert and a fine for both Matteuzzi.
Please don’t fight for him. Pokémon Go Halloween event this year.
