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Fight Over Pokémon Go Gym Inspires Washington Man To Attack Players With A Tire Iron
Pokémon Go-related mishaps and real-life incidents were all the rage when the game was on top of the world back in 2016, as the game's millions of players began meeting each other, for better or worse. Well, some idiot decided to bring that "magic" into 2018 in the worst way possible.
Washington TV Station KATU reports that while Go players Andrew Otton and Grayson Hagstrom were hanging with a friend at Vancouver's Burnt Bridge Creek Trail, someone parked their car near them, got out, and started charging them with a tire iron.
"He comes out of nowhere, yelling, 'WHICH ONE OF YOU IS ANDY?' with a tire iron in his hand," Otton told KATU. Otton's name in Go is AndySamberg. The man with the tire iron, who court records reveal is named Stephen Jolly, was looking for Otton because as Olly was attempting to take a nearby gym, Otton was disputing it. "I was just reviving my Pokemon when he was trying to take it out.," Otton said. "I took it from him, and I didn't know he just took it, and he was like, 'Hey did you just take this gym from me? That's pretty messed up man.' He was very angrily saying it."
What happened next is a bit of a toss-up. Jolly admits he hit a table with the tire iron, but disputes Otton and Hagstrom's report that he punched Hagstrom several times. Hagstrom then defended himself after realizing the best defense is a good offense. "I got behind him and started choking him," Hagstro told KATU. "I figured if he didn't have consciousness, he wouldn't be that tough."
Otton and Hagstrom caught Olly's license plate and reported the incident to the police. Olly has no previous criminal history, but is now facing assault and malicious mischief charges.
[Source: KATU]
Our Take
With the recent resurgence of the discussion about whether video games cause real-world violence and/or gun crimes, there's a lot to unpack here. But can well agree that Go of all games isn't worth getting this upset over?
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