A new video of a St. Johns County woman shows her calling police on a father of a teen soccer player as he and his wife attempted to leave the field.
The second video follows an initial recording reported by First Coast News yesterday.
A witness named Ginger Williams recorded the incident on her cell phone and posted it to her Facebook page, headlining it "SOCCER WHILE BLACK." She dubbed the field marshal who called the police "Golfcart Gail" because she approached the father while riding in a golf cart.
Williams said the father was speaking to his son about a call the ref made, and that when he attempted to leave to defuse the situation, the field marshal called police.
Maria Morales-Walther witnessed the encounter and began recording when the field marshal threatened to call the police on the father. She posted her video in the comments section of Williams' post.
"At no point was he aggressive," Morales-Walther said. She said she witnessed another parent getting thrown out prior to the incident on video. She said the father told his son to be quiet and that the ref was correct.
It was at that point the field marshal came over and told the father he could not speak to the ref. When the man tried to explain he was speaking to his son, not the ref, Morales-Walther said that the field marshal told him to "go sit down." When the father continued to explain, the field marshal said he needed to leave or she would call the police.
The father and his wife had packed up their lawn chairs and were leaving when Morales-Walther began recording. "She kept circling them and agitating them," said Morales-Walther, "That's the most aggressive he had ever gotten, in my video."
In the video the father can be seen telling the field marshal that he was only speaking to his son, "And I get this from you? This is stupid!"
When the field marshal saw Morales-Walther taping her, she attempted to throw her out as well and began detailing to the police that someone was taping her. "You can tape yourself, as you're walking out," the field marshal can be heard saying.
Morales-Walther also witnessed the field marshal telling deputies that she "feared for herself and the children because she didn't know what he [the father] was capable of." Morales-Walther said she stepped in at that point to show the deputies her video, to demonstrate that the father wasn't a threat.
"She never announced herself to parents," said Morales-Walther. It wasn't until she overheard the field marshal talking to police that she knew who she was. Morales-Walther said she identified herself the president of the Athletic Association.
Williams' Facebook post continues to spread with people alleging that this is yet another case in a national trend of people calling police against a person of color.
Gary Easom, president of the Ponte Vedra Athletic Association, told First Coast News the incident is being mischaracterized on social media, and is more about parents behaving badly while watching their child play soccer.
During this particular game, the players were 15 years old. Easom said a father had already been ejected for being verbally abusive to the high school-aged referees. He also said a mother was scolded for using profanity in the stands.
Easom, who was not at the game, said the field marshal reported the incidents to him. "This happens more times than I would like," he said, adding that police are usually not called.
The father later told deputies he was simply coaching his son up. "I told him 'Hey, the ref is always right,'" he's heard telling the deputies on Williams' video.
Easom said parents are not supposed to approach their children during the game.
Ginger Williams, who shot the original video, said the father attempted to leave because of the altercation, but the field marshal called police anyway.
St. Johns County deputies spoke with the father, the field marshal and Williams who said she videotaped the incident because she wanted to ensure the safety of the parent.
Deputies let the dad go and said they would not detain him. At that point the field marshal says she's glad police didn't detain him. "Good," she says in the cell phone recording. "I didn't want anything like that done,"
One of the deputies on scene said to Williams that it is within the marshal's right to call the police and that he was there to defuse the situation.