MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Dakota County Attorney’s Office has increased charges against an Eagan father accused of assaulting his son during a Lakeville basketball game.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom added one count of malicious punishment of a child and one count of neglect of a child to 52-year-old Steven Wilson’s charges. Wilson is accused of pushing his 14-year-old son into a wall and engaging in a fight with the boy after the son’s basketball game.
The Lakeville City Attorney had previously charged Wilson with one count of misdemeanor domestic assault. That charge and the new charges will now be prosecuted by the county attorney.
“Violence against children under any circumstance is unacceptable,” Backstrom said in a release. “It is particularly disturbing when it is associated with a youth sporting event, as is alleged here.”
According to the criminal complaint, Wilson admitted he and his son got into an argument following his son’s eighth grade basketball game. The son told police his dad began yelling at him after the game and as they were walking down the hall, his dad pushed him into the wall.
The son said he pushed his father back in self-defense.
A parent who witnessed the incident said Wilson pushed his son into the wall and began punching him. He said several parents intervened to break up the two and even after they were split up, Wilson continued trying to fight his son.
A coach told police Wilson had acted in a similar fashion during previous sporting events. The coach said at one game, Wilson was yelling and swearing profusely and was eventually ejected from the game by the referee.
