Horrifying moment Mexican wrestler slams boy, 5, to the ground after he tried to chokehold him because he’s ‘one of the bad guys’
- Einar Cruz, who wrestles under the monicker ‘Einar El Vikingo,’ was arrested in Mexico City for attacking five-year-old Mateo last Friday
- A video of the incident shows the 21-year-old slamming the boy to the ground at an outside wrestling event after the child admitted he tried to choke him
- Mateo told Telediario that he reached for Einar El Vikingo’s neck because he was a ‘villain’
- Einar El Vikingo was released from police custody after the boy’s mother agreed to sign a pardon
- The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office said it will still continue to investigate the incident and could still press charges
A five-year-old boy was flung to the ground and injured by a professional wrestler after the child tried to choke him during an event in Mexico.
Video of the shocking incident captured Einar Cruz, who performs as ‘Einar El Vikingo’ (Einar The Viking), lying on the ground as the child, identified as Mateo, walked over to him after a tag team match had ended during an outdoors wrestling card held in the Mexico City borough of Venustiano Carranza last Friday.
Mateo reached for the 21-year-old wrestler’s neck just as he had lost the match and El Vikingo stood up and attacked him, a move that was clearly not in the scripts.
The boy told Mexican news television network Telediario that he wanted to choke Einar El Vikingo because he was on the villain team.
Einar Cruz, who wrestles as ‘Einar El Vikingo,’ was arrested Friday and later released after he was caught on video slamming five-year-old Mateo on a street floor during a wrestling event in Mexico City on Friday. No charges were filed after the boy’s mother agreed to forgive the 21-year-old wrestler
Mexican wrestler Marcella (left) poses with Mateo and a family member during a home visit Monday
Einar El Vikingo had just concluded a tag team wrestling match at an outdoors event in the Mexico City borough of Venustiano Carranza last Friday when he attacked a five-year-old boy who was trying to choke him because he was one of the villain wrestlers
The footage also showed how a group of bystanders near the ring came to Mateo’s aid and reprimanded El Vikingo for his actions.
The wrestler was placed under arrest moments later, but not before police officers were forced to intervene and stop a crowd of onlookers from attacking him.
El Vikingo was released from police custody on Sunday after the Mateo’s mother appeared before the Mexico City prosecutor’s office and pardoned him.
Five-year-old Mateo (left) reaches for Einar El Vikingo’s neck before he was slammed to the ground
Residents confront Einar El Vikingo moments after he attacked five-year-old Mateo at an outdoors wrestling event in Mexico City last Friday
‘It is not a crime that deserves deprivation of liberty, injuries that take 15 days to heal are not punishable,’ Mexico City Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said in a press conference Monday.
‘But here we are working to get him punished because he is a child, but we had to release him at that time.’
On Monday, the Mexico City Wrestling Commission announced El Vikingo had been indefinitely suspended.
In a show of support, several wrestlers have visited Mateo’s home since the incident.
‘Today I paid a visit to Mateo, the boy who was attacked and threatened by the pseudo fighter ‘Einar El Vikingo’.
The wrestling family is outraged by this action,’ female wrestler Marcella wrote on her Twitter account along with a photo of her and the boy. ‘We must not allow violence. Hopefully the authorities will get to work.’