Five adults have been charged with felony charges for a brawl that broke out earlier this year at a high school basketball game, Vermont state police said, but they will not be charged in connection with the death of a person involved in the fight, which later had an acute cardiac event.
Police viewed multiple videos from the boys’ basketball game on Jan. 31.
They determined that a verbal dispute between groups of fans from the Alburgh and Albans City School escalated into an on-field fight.
Police said on Friday they have found “no evidence of criminal charges in connection with the death” of 60-year-old Russell Giroux, who died at Alburgh Community Education Center more than two hours after the altercation.
The medical examiner determined last month that Giroux’s cause of death was an “acute cardiac event following an altercation in a person with coronary artery atherosclerosis.” The manner of death is listed as ‘undetermined’.
Russell Giroux, pictured here with one of his grandchildren, was killed in late January after a brawl at a local high school basketball game in the rural Vermont town of Alburgh.
The fight took place on January 31 before 7pm EST during a match between Alburgh and St. Albans
The five, who range in age from 24 to 43, will be arraigned on May 11. It was not immediately known whether they had a lawyer.
Following the brawl, school officials announced that spectators would not be allowed to attend home basketball games at Alburgh High School for the rest of the season.
Police described Giroux as a participant in a melee and revealed that he drove away from the crime scene in his car, but later called police for medical attention. 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 High Schools, with the violence beginning sometime before 7 p.m. ET. The fight ended by the time troopers arrived, but was filmed by a spectator.
Relatives mourned the loss, calling the patriarch their “glue” and “the breadwinner” for his family.
State troopers were called to the center just after 7pm following reports of the fight, which initially only involved spectators in the home game between Alburgh and St Albans.
Video captured of the scene shows several adults running onto the field throwing punches and kicks, while several students and players watch from the sidelines.
The recording showed several people running onto the track, many being pushed, tackled and punched.
Video recording of the scene showed the several adults running onto the field throwing punches and kicks, while students and players watched 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), studies at Alburgh Middle. It is unclear whether the grandfather had been keeping an eye on his grandson when the violence broke out
Girroux, second from the right, was remembered on Wednesday as a “husband, a son, a father, a grandfather and a friend” who took care of his family and grandson
It also shows at least one student, dressed in 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 the 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 driving toward his home before pulling over to examine his injuries. He then sought medical attention and an ambulance took him to a nearby hospital.
There, at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, Giroux was pronounced dead.