Five adults have been charged with misdemeanor assault for a brawl that erupted at a middle school basketball game earlier this year, Vermont State Police said, but they won’t face any charges related to the death of one person involved in the fight who later had an acute cardiac event.
Police watched multiple videos of the Jan. 31 boys basketball game.
They determined that a verbal dispute between groups of fans for the Alburgh and Albans City School escalated into a fight on the court.
Police said Friday they found ‘no evidence to support criminal charges related to the death’ of 60-year-old Russell Giroux, who died more than two hours after the altercation at the Alburgh Community Education Center.
The medical examiner determined last month that Giroux’s cause of death was an ‘acute cardiac event following altercation in an individual with coronary artery atherosclerosis.’ The manner of death will be listed as ‘undetermined.’
Russell Giroux, pictured here with one of his grandchildren, was killed following a brawl at a local middle school basketball game in the rural Vermont town of Alburgh in late January
The fight took place on January 31 before 7:00pm EST at a game between Alburgh & St. Albans
The five, who range in age from 24 to 43, face arraignment on May 11. It was not immediately known if they had lawyers.
After the brawl, school officials announced that spectators would not be allowed to attend home basketball games for the rest of the season at the Alburgh middle school.
Police described Giroux as a participant in a melee, revealing that he drove his car away from the scene but later called cops for medical assistance. He was then rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The game reportedly involved seventh and eighth-grade boys from Alburgh and St. Albans middle schools, with the violence starting sometime before 7 pm ET. The melee ended by the time troopers arrived, but was filmed by a spectator.
Relatives mourned the loss, calling the patriarch their ‘glue’ and ‘the provider’ for his family.
State troopers were called to the center just after 7pm following reports of the fight, which at first only involved spectators at the home game between Alburgh and St Albans.
Video shot from the scene shows the several adults rush onto the court throwing punches and kicks, as several students and players stared on from the sidelines.
The recording showed several people rush the court, with many being shoved, tackled, and punched in the process.
Video shot from the scene showed the several adults rush onto the court throwing punches and kicks, as students and players stared on from the sidelines
It also shows at least one student in a St Albans uniform throwing multiple punches at adults during the unrest, as parents and school staff try to break it up.
Giroux’s grandson, Ivan (pictured), is a student at Alburgh Middle. It is unclear if the grandfather had been watching his grandson when the violence broke out
Girroux, second from right, was remembered Wednesday as a ‘husband, a son, a father, a grandfather, and a friend’ who provided for his family and grandson
It also shows at least one student, wearing a St Albans uniform, throwing multiple punches at adults during the unrest, as parents and school staff try to break it up.
The fight ended before troopers arrived – by which point many of the participants had already left, including Giroux, whose grandson, Ivan, is a student at Alburgh Middle.
Giroux, police said, would then begin to drive in the direction of his home, before pulling over his car seemingly to survey his injuries. He subsequently sought medical attention, with an ambulance taking him to a nearby hospital.
It was there, at the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, that Giroux was pronounced dead.
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