2 City Of Denver Employees On Leave After Little League Brawl

LAKEWOOD, CO — Two city of Denver employees have been placed on leave Thursday pending an investigation into their possible involvement in a brawl at a youth baseball game, the city of Denver said.

The Lakewood Police Department is continuing to investigate the brawl, which broke out Saturday.

"These coaches and parents, unhappy with a baseball game involving 7 year olds and a 13-year-old umpire, took over the field and began assaulting each other," LPD said in a post on social media.

The umpire gave both teams a warning for using bad language, 9News reported. Someone was upset that the umpire didn't kick the parents out of the game, which started an argument that got physical.

The umpire's family told 9News that the 13-year-old feels guilty that a coach is in trouble for protecting him and guilty about not being able to control the angry parents.

Many community members have called the brawl "heartbreaking."

"My heart is broken for our children, both teams, that they had to experience this violence between adults," Lizmar Thurber told 9News. Her first grader played in the game, and she took the video that was used by police.

Detectives are hoping to identify a man who is seen sucker punching a person in the video.

The brawl broke out just before noon at the Westgate Elementary School, 8550 W. Vassar Drive, police said. Several injuries were reported, and five people who were involved received citations from police for disorderly conduct.

One person was seriously injured, police said. There were no reports of children being hurt.

Police are seeking to identify the man in the video with a white shirt and teal shorts who threw a sucker punch.

Anyone with information is asked to call 303-987-7111 or 303-980-7300.