SAFFORD — Criticizing the referee’s calls is generally accepted at sporting events. Attacking the referee via call will get you arrested.
The Graham County Sheriff’s Deputy was summoned to the Fairgrounds on Saturday, Aug. 20, with multiple reports of parents working on soccer refereeing.
Witnesses reported that the suspect, identified as Michael W. Goodwin, attacked the referee after pulling two players who were fighting on the field apart, and told the referee not to touch his son. It is reported
Multiple other parents and football officials rushed to the field to pull Goodwin off the referee, while others said Goodwin’s 17-year-old son was going to the family’s car to get a gun. When the 17-year-old boy returned, multiple people reported hearing him say, “I’m glad I didn’t have a gun or I would have died.”
The 17-year-old reportedly told a deputy he was trying to retrieve a gun that his father normally keeps under the driver’s seat in his car, but it wasn’t there. He was charged with intimidation and released into his mother’s custody.
Goodwin was incarcerated in Graham County Jail on charges of assault and disorderly conduct.
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