Police: Sports coach was violently attacked with umbrella during a match

A man was charged Thursday with attacking a sports coach at a rugby tournament with an umbrella.

Police say a fight broke out during a rugby game in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 27. The coach, Semisi Tupouata, attempted to break it up but was hit multiple times with an umbrella, leaving him unconscious and unable to see out of his right eye, according to a court document shared with Newsweek Magazine.

Takes Mafileo Vakapuna, 39, was charged Thursday in Salt Lake City District Court with aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, a second-degree felony.

According to medical documents shared with the Salt Lake City Police Department, Tupouata’s right eye required surgery to treat a traumatic eye injury and 16 days after the incident he could not see out of it.

The report shared with Newsweek Magazine The Salt Lake City Police Department said Officer R. Thomas investigated the incident and spoke to several witnesses. One of them, Sephina Lialina Afu, reportedly said Tupouata’s eye was “swollen open and shut.” Afu also provided footage of the incident, which police say led them to identify Vakapuna.

Another witness, Eseta Ngalu, said she ran to help the rugby coach once he was on the ground, after seeing Vakapuna punch him, and later described his eye injury as “full of blood”.

Police spoke to three other witnesses who provided information that led to the charges against Vakapuna, the report said.

According to Neighborhood Scout, Salt Lake City has one of the highest crime rates of any American city and is the most dangerous place to live in the state, with residents having a 1 in 13 chance of being the victim of a violent or property crime. Residents have a 1 in 102 chance of being the victim of a violent crime, which includes assault.

It was reported to be the 11th most dangerous city in the US in a 2023-24 data set, according to Fox 13. US News also ranked Utah as the best city in the country in 2024.

Despite this, the outlet also reported that Salt Lake City also ranked among the top 100 cities to live in the US in 2023-24, at number 58.

Desirability, value, labour market, quality of life and net migration were the five categories in which the rankings were decided.

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