ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — We’re learning more about a bloody St. Johns County pickleball match that ended in a St. Augustine mother’s arrest.
Michele Bannister is facing felony charges for allegedly assaulting another pickleball player at Treaty Park. On May 31st, St. Johns County deputies say she hit a man in the head several times with her pickleball paddle.
Pam Hatch, better known as ‘Pickleball Pam’, was on a nearby court and rushed to help the victim after the attack.
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“She probably got in six good whacks with the side of the paddle. She was being torn off of him as well. She was upset. Something really did set her off,” said Pam Pickleball Hatch, who witnessed the attack and is the North Florida Ambassador for USA Pickleball.
“There was blood kind of all over the place. I was helping the victim ring out the towel because it was a bloody mess,” Hatch said.
Hatch is a pickleball advocate who pushed to increase court availability in Saint Johns County.
“When I last looked up, I saw them all four playing. I’m not sure what was said, but it was certainly enough to provoke an altercation like that,” Hatch said.
She’s played pickleball before with both the defendant and the victim.
“I’ve played with the victim before and many people out there. I don’t think he would have provoked her, but I don’t know exactly what was said,” Hatch said.
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Being a couple courts away, Hatch didn’t hear what started the argument. She spoke with the defendant and her son after the altercation.
“I have seen her and her son out there playing. Lovely people,” Hatch said.
Although she’s not sure of specifics, Hatch thinks a comment made on the court could have been taken out of context.
“She was saying that she was offended in some way and took it to heart that her son might have been in danger and she wanted to make sure he was ok,” Hatch said.
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Bannister told deputies she was stepping in to protect her son. But deputies noted in their report that there was no “imminent” threat to her child at the time.
She’s pleading not guilty.
Action News Jax has reached out to Bannister’s attorney multiple times since Thursday, but we haven’t heard back.
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