A Florida man has been charged with simple assault in an early Saturday morning incident in which Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert was punched at an Aberdeen bar.
Kyle Douglas Hadala, 29, of Sarasota, Fla., is charged with the misdemeanor count and has been released on a personal recognizance bond, said Ernest Thompson, chief deputy state’s attorney for Brown County.
Hadala is set to appear in court July 10. He was in town for work, Thompson said.
Goedert, 25, is a Britton native. He was a star athlete at Britton-Hecla High School and South Dakota State University. He was drafted by the Eagles in the second round in 2018 and is entering his third year in the NFL.
Thompson confirmed that a video that has surfaced is of the incident involving Goedert. In it, a man races into the frame and punches Goedert, who falls to the ground.
Aberdeen police noted in a news release that they responded to the 1000 block of South Main Street at 1:07 a.m. in reference to an assault, but did not identify the victim. That is the block of The Zoo bar, which has been confirmed as the site of the incident.
According to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, a source with knowledge of the situation said Goedert “was with some friends and family, and two guys kept saying disrespectful things.” The source said Goedert walked over to “tell them to chill” and was punched.
It’s not clear in the video what happened leading up to the incident, however Goedert appeared to have his arm outstretched, distancing himself from another man before being punched by a different person.
Thompson said it’s not yet known what happened before the confrontation. The investigation is ongoing, he said.
Thompson said his decision to charge Hadala with a misdemeanor as opposed to aggravated assault, a felony, came down to whether Goedert suffered serious bodily injury or loss of life or health. In the case of a concussion, it can depend, Thompson explained. If a person is fragile and a concussion could cause a stroke or if a person were to fall and crack their head open, that could be considered serious bodily injury, Thompson said.
In this case, he said, it was clear to officers who interviewed Goedert that even though he had been knocked out, it did not constitute serious bodily injury.
Goedert was taken by ambulance to a hospital before being released. ESPN.com reported Goedert is back at home and is “fine.”
Thompson said that Hadala can travel with his release. But he signed a waiver of extradition, meaning that he won’t contest being sent back to South Dakota from another state, Thompson said.
He said his office has been busy fielding calls about the incident, including taking calls from ESPN, TMZ and other media outlets.