Parents Are Getting Tasered, Punched, and Arrested Over a Seemingly Benign Activity. It Didn't Used to Be Like This.

"They were right. If you've been around interscholastic sports long enough, you can sense trouble. The real problem arrived in the fourth quarter, when two players tackled each other at half court. Coaches and teammates rushed in, and one boy appeared to kick the player from the opposing team. Security and administrators broke up the tussle, but this time parents made it to the center of the action."

"One man grabbed the arm of a woman-who, according to local commenters on Facebook posts, was the mother of the boy tackled. She knocked his hand away. They argued, and had to be separated themselves-until the woman's husband ran onto the court and charged the man, pushing him backward. Players dispersed. One of the boys who was tackled stumbled off, his face a bloody mess."

"Restrained and then tackled, he got back up. A sheriff's officer confronted him, and a moment later, the parent was shocked with a Taser and fell in a heap onto the court. "They just tased Ryan," one of the hosts nonchalantly observed, creating a meme that would soon be used by college teams like Vanderbilt University's."

A scuffle broke out under the basket in the first quarter of a boys middle school basketball game in eastern Kentucky. Referees blew whistles while coaches and administrators separated the teams and held back players. The situation escalated in the fourth quarter when two players tackled each other and one appeared to kick an opponent. Parents rushed onto the court, a woman shoved a man away, and her husband charged another parent. A tackled boy left with a bloody face. A parent who intervened was restrained, then shocked with a Taser; the game was canceled and the clip spread online.

Read at Slate Magazine