Woman in Golf Cart Calls Cops on Black Dad at Game

Gerald Jones says he was instructing his son
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 18, 2018 7:57 AM CDT

We've had "Cornerstone Caroline," "Pool Patrol Paula," and "BBQ Becky." Now: "Golfcart Gail." That's the nickname given by Ginger Williams to a woman she says was at her son's soccer game in Ponte Vedra, Fla., this weekend, harassing a black dad cheering his son on. Williams' Sunday Facebook post—titled "Soccer While Black"—shows a pic of the unnamed woman, on her phone in a golf cart, allegedly making a call about a man Williams says was simply shouting out instructions to his son. The dad simply "yelled 'The ref is right' when he saw his kid out there getting frustrated after a call," Williams notes. That apparently set "Gail" off, and she told the dad "harassment won't be tolerated" and "continued to harass and beleaguer him." NBC News explains talking to the ref in a game isn't permitted, but Williams writes the man explained he was talking to his own son.

He finally offered to just leave to defuse the situation, Williams adds, at which point "Golfcart Gail" said she was still calling the cops "because she no longer felt safe with his threatening behavior." (NBC News also has some video.) A rep for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office says the woman in the golf cart is an athletic association field marshal, and the head of that group says the cops were called not just because of that dad, "but as a result of a culmination of several immediate prior incidents" at the game, including a mom who was cursing and another dad who'd been ejected for being verbally abusive, per WTLV. Deputies didn't detain the father from Williams' post, IDed as Gerald Jones. He's not so sure it wasn't a racially spurred incident and says the field marshal and the soccer club owe him an apology, reports WTLV. (Remember "Permit Patty"?)

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