Mother, coach says she was attacked at 10-year-old son’s football game

Sade Pollard had to be taken to the hospital to get stitches above her right eyebrow after she was cut in the face during a fight in St. Paul. (FOX 9)

A St. Paul woman says she had to be taken to the hospital to get stitches above her right eyebrow after she was cut in the face during a fight at a recreation center in St. Paul over the weekend. 

Sade Pollard was a high school track star at Harding High School in St. Paul. After contracting Scleroderma, her college track career was over. That’s when she turned to coaching an AAU track team with kids from all over St. Paul. 

“I do a lot of mentoring; I work with a lot of kids,” Sade Pollard said. “A lot of kids call me 'God Mom' or 'Coach P' or 'Mom.'”

She said when she got to her 10-year-old son’s football game at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center in St. Paul on Saturday, she saw one of the little girls she mentors. She said she walked up to her and started talking to her. That’s when she heard a coach curse at the group of kids. 

“I told the coach, 'you know that’s unnecessary. You don’t need to talk to kids like this,'” Sade Pollard said. 

Pollard said one of the kids jumped into the conversation and cursed at her. She then told the kid it was not okay to talk to adults like that. She said that’s when she walked away, but a short time later, she saw a group of people start walking towards her. 

“I see people coming, and all I can think about is, 'They’re about to jump us, I need to grab my baby,'” Sade Pollard said. 

She said she started to shield her two-year-old son who was standing next to her. Her mother, Tracy Pollard, was standing nearby and tried to separate the two groups. 

The two claim 25 to 30 people started punching and kicking them. Tracy Pollard said she was trying to protect her daughter who is terminally ill with Scleroderma. She said Sade is too sick to get into a physical altercation.

Then, they say someone pulled out something sharp and cut Sade in the face.

“They split my daughter’s face open, and all I could see is blood,” Tracy Pollard said. 

After Sade Pollard was cut, St. Paul police were called to the scene. In the police report, police state that there was a Taser and gun present at the altercation, but “it does not appear that either was used during the fight.”

The Pollards claim the staff at the recreation center did not do enough to prevent the fight from escalating. 

“They didn’t intervene. They didn’t try to stop it because we asked for help probably like two minutes before they ran up to fight,” Sade Pollard said. 

A statement from St. Paul Parks and Recreation said: 

“On Saturday, September 7th a physical altercation between two adults took place at Oxford Community Center toward the end of a youth football game. Our staff, as trained, reacted appropriately to deescalate the situation, phone the police and suspend activities for the day. We are currently reviewing information and possible next steps.”

The Pollard family says they’re concerned that something like this would happen at a children’s sporting event at a community center that is supposed to be safe. 

“Parks and Rec got my kids where they were to be state champions, so to come there, get beat up, me and my children... it’s terrible,” Tracy Pollard said. 

“I would never do nobody like this. I did not deserve this. I didn’t deserve for my face to be cut, and the kids didn’t deserve to see that,” Sade Pollard said. 

A representative from the St. Paul Police Department said the situation is still under investigation. They said they are still interviewing people who were involved in the altercation. As of Monday night, no arrests were made.