Anheuser-Busch heir accused of assaulting 11-year-old at basketball practice
William “Billy” Busch, the great grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Aldophus Busch, has been charged with assaulting an 11-year-old at his son’s basketball practice last November.
Busch, an heir to the Busch fortune, is accused of pushing the boy into a wall and giving him a bloody nose, according to Fox News.
The 58-year-old Busch was issued a summons for assault fourth degree, a municipal ordinance violation, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The incident happened last Nov. 16 at the Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, Missouri, during basketball practice.
The sixth-grader whom Busch is accused of assaulting was reportedly jockeying to be first in line with Busch’s son.
Billy Busch, the great-grandson of Adolphus Busch, faces an assault charge for allegedly manhandling and bloodying the nose of a sixth grader at his son's school. https://t.co/v6yq8lmjAB
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 24, 2018
According to the Post-Dispatch, citing the police report, the boy said the “younger Busch pushed him two or three times, then raised his arm and a closed fist.” The boy then slapped the younger Busch.
At that point Billy Busch approached him “from behind and began shouting profanities,” reported the Post-Dispatch.
“You f—er!” Busch allegedly said, according to the New York Daily News. “What do you f—ing think you’re f—ing doing to my f—ing kid?”
“The boy said Busch grabbed his shirt collar, pushing him backward. In response, the boy said he ‘slapped Mr. Busch on his left temple with an open hand.’ The boy told police that Busch then pushed him into a wall at the base of a stairwell. The back of his head hit the wall and his nose began to bleed, the boy said. After his father intervened, the boy returned to the gym, he told police,” the Post-Dispatch reported.
In December, after the incident was reported to police, Busch was given the option to explain his account of the story to police or be issued a summons to appear in municipal court on an assault charge.
Busch’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, will represent the defendant in municipal court this Wednesday.
Rosenblum, in a statement to the Post-Dispatch, said Busch stepped in when his son was “bullied — actually sucker-punched — by a much larger middle school student directly in front of him.”
“He did what every parent would have done in that situation,” Rosenblum told the Post-Dispatch. “The school’s video of the event clearly shows that Mr. Busch did not act with any maliciousness, and that his actions were directed at protecting the safety of his son and others involved.”
The boy’s father, in an emailed statement to the Post-Dispatch, said Rosenblum’s statement contained several inaccuracies.
“First, the statement attempts to paint a grown man with a history of erratic behavior (such as biting a man’s ear off) who physically assaulted an 11-year-old boy as a sympathetic figure,” the boy’s father said in a statement.
“Second, it attempts to paint the victim as a bully when it was Mr. Busch’s son who was the initial aggressor in the incident between the two boys … While Mr. Busch may not have liked seeing his son receive a dose of his own medicine, him attempting to resolve his son’s conflict with another 11-year-old boy, let alone physically, is shameful.
“Third, it suggests the school failed to react. In fact, the school administration and basketball program acted swiftly and decisively in calming the situation, investigating what happened and removing Mr. Busch and his son from the facility.
“In summary, Mr. Busch’s behavior was highly inappropriate … The actions and language used by Mr. Busch during the incident and as documented on the school’s video clearly and incontrovertibly show otherwise. The fact is a grown man manhandled a child in response to an altercation his son initiated but could not finish. We have no ill will toward Mr. Busch’s son and wish him the best.”
The family said it is not planning to sue Busch.
Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, Bud Light and many other beverages, was sold to Belgium’s InBev in 2008. Busch never worked at the company. He operates his own brewing company, the William K. Busch Brewing Co., which makes Kraftig beer.
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