No evidence Flyers mascot Gritty hit 13-year-old in the back, police say
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Did Gritty physically assault a 13-year-old boy in November?
No, said Philadelphia police Monday. A news release stated that the actions of the person wearing the Flyers’ mascot costume that night did not constitute physical assault. The investigation is no longer active.
The person wearing the mascot costume has not been identified.
Chris Greenwell of Newark, Del., filed the police complaint on behalf of his 13-year-old son, Brandon, on Dec. 21. Greenwell told The Philadelphia Inquirer that following a photo shoot between Brandon and Gritty that Gritty “took a running start” and “punched my son as hard as he could,” injuring his back.
Greenwell said a chiropractor diagnosed his son with a back bruise or a “contusion to lower thoracic spine with subluxation.”
There was no video footage of the alleged incident. Greenwell spent a month trying to come to an agreement with Flyers owner Comcast Spectacor before filing the complaint.
“We took Mr. Greenwell’s allegations seriously and conducted a thorough investigation that found nothing to support this claim,” a Flyers spokesperson told the Inquirer in January.