Officials announced on Wednesday, September 14, that a mom charged with telling her teen daughter to hit a rival player during a basketball game last year in Garden Grove had been ordered to pay the victim more than $9,000 and write an apology letter to her.
The incident happened on November 7, 2021, when Latira Shonty Hunt was in the stands of the MAPS sports facility watching her child play in a basketball game, according to NBC News. The fight occurred at an event hosted by Avac United, which organizes basketball games for teens ages 13 to 16 across Southern California.
The 44-year-old La Puenta native allegedly yelled to her daughter that she better hit her for that after her child had an altercation with a 15-year-old opponent on the court. The rival player then fell on the basketball court in an unprovoked attack captured on video.
Hunt ordered to pay more than $9,000 in restitution
The victim's mom, Alice Ham, told KTLA in an interview that she knew something was wrong when her daughter returned home disoriented after her basketball game. Teammates and other parents filled her in on what happened and showed her the video.
Hunt was charged about a month later with one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Officials said the mother faced a maximum sentence of a year in jail if she was convicted on all counts.
An Orange County Superior Court judge granted her misdemeanor diversion in exchange for completing a series of requirements over the next couple of years. Among the things that Hunt must do are write an apology letter to the victim, her parents, and the two basketball teams; pay more than $9,000 in restitution to the victim; and complete anger management classes before she can attend basketball games again. She was also ordered to stay away from the victim.
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Hunt responsible for hurting an innocent child
Officials explained that under recent changes in California law, nearly all misdemeanors are now eligible for reduced probationary periods and court-ordered diversion. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer issued a news release, saying parents have a fundamental responsibility to raise their children to be good human beings who treat everyone with dignity and respect.
He added that youth sports play a crucial role in developing teamwork, fair play, and discipline. Spitzer said that a grown adult directing a child to use violence against another child on the basketball court is reprehensible, BET reported.
By instructing her own kid to engage in violence, Spitzer said the mother is responsible for injuring an innocent child as if she punched her with her own fist. She also transformed her own child into someone willing to hurt another child.
