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- A North Salt Lake man, 18, was charged Thursday with felony aggravated assault for an incident at the BYU-Utah football game.
- He was charged with throwing a bottle and hitting a BYU cheer coach, who was knocked out and suffered a concussion.
- The fan allegedly told police he was upset about how the game ended with BYU victorious.
SALT LAKE CITY — A felony criminal charge was filed Thursday against a North Salt Lake man, accusing him of throwing a water bottle onto a football field and hitting a cheerleading coach during the BYU vs. Utah game last month.
The fan said he was upset about how the game ended and joined others in throwing water bottles when the game was over, according to charging documents.
William Gardner, 18, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, for the Nov. 9 incident at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. On Nov. 12, Gardner's father contacted police to report his son was the suspect and he was arrested.
A water bottle was thrown from a suite onto the field where it struck BYU cheer coach Jocelyn Allan in the head. She was knocked unconscious from the impact, according to charging documents.
A cheerleader and BYU police officer told University of Utah police they saw an object fly through the air and hit Allan in the head. Both went to Allan's side to help her and reported she was unconscious for about 15 seconds. Police noted that there were "multiple water bottles around the area where Allan was struck."
When Allan awoke, she said she had a headache and asked what happened to her. She believed the plastic water bottle came from the south endzone suites and was more than half full, the charges state.
Allan suffered memory loss, fuzzy thoughts and was diagnosed with a concussion a few days later, police said. She also suffered neck pain, vision and balance issues that have affected her ability to do her job and her activity level. After a recent checkup, she will require therapy for up to six weeks, according to the charges.
A witness watching the game from a suite reported seeing a "young male," later identified as Gardner, throw the water bottle, the charges allege. He said he "tried to stop Gardner and his father (from leaving) but was prevented from doing so by another person." University of Utah police also reported reviewing surveillance video that showed the bottle being thrown.
In an interview, Gardner told police that he was upset about how the game ended with BYU defeating the University of Utah, 22-21. "Gardner saw people throwing water bottles and he was so mad that he threw one in the direction of the cheer team. Gardner claimed the bottle was open and was about half full," the charging documents say.
"Gardner admitted knowing that throwing a water bottle from that height could injure someone, and claimed he was not thinking about that," the charges say. He said he later saw a news article about the cheer coach's injury and thought to himself, "Yeah, that was me."
A spokesman for University of Utah police said in November that there were multiple instances of fan behavior after the Cougars' come-from-behind win, because of the often contentious nature of the rivalry game.
