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Southington man facing felonious assault in fight after soccer game
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Daniel L. Miracle, 43, of Shanks Phalanx Road in Southington, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to felonious assault and misdemeanor assault after purportedly head-butting a male student after a girls high-school soccer game.
Miracle was released later Tuesday from the Trumbull County Jail after posting $7,500 bond, but if convicted, he could get eight years in prison. He pleaded not guilty and was taken to the jail to be booked.
The purported incident occurred Sept. 28 as fans were leaving the Newton Falls High School football stadium, where the Newton Falls girls soccer team defeated LaBrae 2-1.
Newton Falls police said Miracle head-butted a Newton Falls boy, 15, after the game and then assaulted an assistant Newton Falls coach who also is an Ohio State Highway Patrolman who came to break it up. The assault knocked the boy’s tooth loose; the assistant coach/trooper suffered bruises and cuts.
The felony assault charge relates to the juvenile; the misdemeanor relates to the assistant coach/trooper.
Also charged was Olivia D. Miracle, 20, of the same address as Daniel Miracle. She faces a misdemeanor assault charge in Newton Falls Municipal Court. She also is accused of assaulting the the assistant coach/state trooper.
Police said the incident began when two male Newton Falls students walked past a LaBrae bus, and someone about that time “tapped” or “slapped” the bus.
Daniel Miracle then stepped forward and confronted the two boys over it. The boy closer to Miracle told Miracle he wasn’t afraid of him, and Miracle head-butted the boy in the mouth, knocking a tooth loose, Newton Falls police said.
Jeremy Bryner of Warren, an assistant Newton Falls coach and off-duty state trooper, stepped forward and pulled the boy away from Miracle, but Olivia Miracle came from the side and also assaulted the boy, police said.
After she also assaulted Bryner, according to the police report, Bryner tackled her to the ground. But he heard someone say, “Get off my niece,” and Daniel Miracle then got on Bryner’s back and assaulted Bryner, despite Bryner identifying himself as “police.”
Two other males pulled Daniel Miracle off of Bryner, and Daniel Miracle got in his car and left.
During the incident, several people were yelling about the outcome of the game, and a school official yelled for everyone to leave, but some didn’t, including one woman from Southington who later was questioned by police.
The school official said the woman was “challenging” people and “yelling about how the game was played.” The school official asked the woman to leave, but she would just keep getting out of her car “and yell some more.” The woman was not charged.
People in the crowd turned in photos they took of Daniel Miracle’s car and the woman’s car to help identify them.