Pokemon GO Fight With Father and Adult Son Ends in Arrest
What a time to be alive. Pokemon GO usually brings people together but in this case, an elderly man and his grown up son were feeling a bit less comfy with their fellow players.
71 year old Robert Matteuzzi and his 31 year old son were arrested when they teamed up to go after a player that suffered a “traumatic” eye injury and more over a ‘stolen gym.’ The victim allegedly thought the pair was cheating and threw a Gaterade bottle into their car, which prompted the duo to retaliate violently.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the entire scuffle was caught on film with the annotated description of events:
“The elder Matteuzzi later found the victim in another area and threw the bottle back at him, hitting him in the face, Waggoner wrote. All three men then got into a fight,” said the Dispatch report. “A bystander took video of the encounter and caught Robert Matteuzzi holding the victim down while his son hit the victim’s head and face several times, [Kirkwood Police Officer Matthew] Waggoner wrote. The victim suffered cuts to his face, a ‘traumatic’ eye injury and a broken finger tip.”
Both father and son are facing third-degree assault charges in what quickly became Pokemon Brawl.
For those that may not know, Pokemon GO is an incredibly popular augmented reality game available on both iOS and Android devices. It allows players to track real time where they are geographically to catch Pokemon based on their location. It’s fun, and continues to be updated with events and new pocket monsters, but unfortunately – this isn’t the first time a friendly “GO” at the game turned violent or unsavory.
A 71-year-old man and his adult son beat up a Pokémon Go competitor who accused them of cheating and threw a plastic bottle in their car, police say.
A bystander’s video captured the assault Monday in the 500 block of West Adams Avenue, near North Geyer Road and Kirkwood Park, according to court documents. Kirkwood Police did not release the video.
St. Louis County prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against Robert Matteuzzi and his son Angelo Matteuzzi, 31. Each faces one count of assault in the third degree.
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game for smartphones in which users can hunt, capture and do battle with virtual monsters that appear in real-life locations, some of which are specially marked “gyms” that belong to different teams.
Users can battle one another to obtain control of the gyms and can claim open gyms by walking up to them and assigning a Pokémon character to them.
While playing Pokémon Go, the assault victim thought the Matteuzzis had cheated in the popular game by stealing his “gym” and then threw a Gatorade bottle into their car, Kirkwood Police Officer Matthew Waggoner wrote in a probable cause statement.
The elder Matteuzzi later found the victim in another area and threw the bottle back at him, hitting him in the face, Waggoner wrote. All three men then got into a fight.
A bystander took video of the encounter and caught Robert Matteuzzi holding the victim down while his son hit the victim’s head and face several times, Waggoner wrote. The victim suffered cuts to his face, a “traumatic” eye injury and a broken finger tip, charges say.
The Matteuzzis live in the 5300 block of Minerva Avenue in St. Louis, according to court records. They were ordered held in lieu of $15,000 bail.
