(This story has been updated to note Piotr Szczerek denied defending his behavior during an incident at the US Open.)
He said scores of people have said they will get the ball back from the angry, unidentified woman.
“Please don’t do anything to that lady,’’ Feltwell told USA TODAY Sports on Sept. 8. “Leave it alone. You know, somebody knows her and can talk to her, that’s different. But God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good.’’
The power of the internet has put adults behaving badly at sports events on notice.
Most recently, it was the home run ball controversy taking place during the game between the Phillies and Miami Marlins on Sept. 5 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
About a week earlier, a CEO snatched a hat that Polish tennis star Kamil Majchrzak tried to hand to a young boy.
A statement posted on Facebook and attributed to Piotr Szczerek, the CEO of a Polish paving company, defended his behavior. But he denied making the statement and, slammed on social media, offered an apology.
The backlash on social media is like “informal sanctions,” a term used in criminology, said Alex Piquero, Professor & Chair of the Department of Sociology & Criminology, Arts & Sciences at Miami.
“These are how your peers and the people you value, how they’ll judge your behavior,’’ Piquero told USA TODAY Sports. “And I think that punishment alone, right there, is enough that if these people have any sense of moral conscience, they’re going to feel like the smallest human beings in this world.’’
He also said the incident, because it’s captured on video and on social media, will never go away. So what kind of deterrent might that serve for another adult on the verge of showing insensitivity to a child at a public sporting event – and the cameras watching.
“There’s always going to be some adult who does something stupid like that,’’ Piquero said. “They’re human beings. They want something and they don’t think about their actions until they’re forced to think about them. …
“I got to hope that someone out there believes that, next time this does happen, look, do the right thing. Give it to the kid.’’
With the angry woman still under assault on social media, Feltwell said, ‘I could say something like she got what she deserved, but I don’t know if she deserved that much.”
