Man Charged with Spitting Blood onto Referee's Phone During Urbandale Hockey Game

After becoming upset with a call made by the referee, a 25-year-old Pleasant Hill man allegedly retaliated by blowing blood from his nose onto the referee's cell phone, according to an Urbandale police report.

The incident occurred at the just before 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 1.

Police said the man was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief for defacing the phone. If he had actually blown his nose at the referee, the suspect could have faced assault charges, according to Officer Jeff Casey with the .

"If you purposely spit body fluids like blood on people, that's a no-no," Casey said.

Because the blood was snorted onto a cell phone, the offender was only charged with criminal mischief in the fifth-degree. However, Casey said that when officials learned how expensive the phone was, the charges were updated to the fourth degree.