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Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty accused of punching child

Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty has been accused of punching a 13-year-old boy during a game at the Wells Fargo Center.

The orange-haired creature has been accused by Chris Greenwell of taking “a running start” to “punch my son as hard as he could”.

Greenwell has gone public and turned to the authorities after claiming the NHL side refused to pay for his son’s medical bills.

A chiropractor diagnosed the 13-year-old with a “contusion to lower thoracic spine with subluxation” a week after the incident.

A spokesman for the Philadelphia police department described the case as “physical assault”, which took place “during a photo shoot with 13-year-old white male and Flyers mascot Gritty”.

Greenwell insists Comcast Spectacor, who own the Flyers, have maintained there is no surveillance footage of the incident because “the cameras in that area of the center are focused on other locations”.

The incident with Gritty, who according to the team’s website has “bully tendencies” due to his father being one, has seen Greenwell discontinue his season tickets.

He has also accused the team of attempting to cover up the story with bribery.

“This could have been handled so simply but they tried to bribe me not to speak about it,” he said.

Gritty celebrating Christmas in Philadelphia with the Ice Girls (USA TODAY)
Gritty celebrating Christmas in Philadelphia with the Ice Girls (USA TODAY)

“My inbox is already getting media requests. This article is 100% factual of the incident and the Wells Fargo Center refused to let me see the video of it and the police had to get involved in it to get it.

“They tried to get me to drop it by offering tickets and all I can drink passes at one of the bars there.”

The team have declared that they “took Mr Greenwell’s allegations seriously and conducted a thorough investigation that found nothing to support this claim”.

Gritty is yet to comment on the allegations.