A Washington DC firefighter is on administrative leave after a viral video on social media showed him punching an usher at Nationals Park during Tuesday night’s game between the Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.
Metropolitan police identified the man as Christopher Sullivan, 54, of West Virginia. He was arrested and charged with assault after video showed him yelling obscenities and then punching an usher who tried to escort him out of the park.
The fight began when an usher asked Sullivan, who was sitting in a section he didn’t have a ticket for, to return to his ticketed seat.
Sullivan was reportedly asked to return to his seat several times before he was finally told to leave.
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Onlookers in the video can be heard shouting “get out of here dude” and “you gotta go”.
The usher was using his body to force Sullivan up the stairs and out of the section when Sullivan turned and punched the man in the face, prompting a response from police and the security of the ball field.
General view of Nationals Park in Washington, DC before the Atlanta Braves against the Washington Nationals on September 27, 2022.
(Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Sullivan is a firefighter with DC Fire and EMS, but was already on administrative leave with pay for an incident that happened on Aug. 31, Fox 5 DC reported.
The point of sale received the following statement from the department:
“The actions witnessed in the video are absolutely unacceptable. Our department was notified on September 27, 2022, that an employee of our agency had been arrested and charged with simple assault by the Metropolitan Police. Prior to this incident, the individual was on administrative leave. with pay, pending the outcome of an internal personnel process. He will remain on leave while our internal investigation into this matter continues.”
Washington DC firefighter Christopher Sullivan, who is on administrative leave, is seen punching a Nationals Park usher in the face as he is escorted out of the park.
(@ThomasGinn34/Twitter via Fox 5 DC)
Sullivan was fired from the department “several years ago,” but was later reinstated, according to NBC Washington.
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The Nationals banned Sullivan from the ballpark for five years after the incident.
