A St. Johns County, Florida, nurse is facing felony charges after she allegedly bashed a fellow pickleball player in the head with a paddle multiple times — and her attorney says the violence was justified.
Michelle Bannister has pleaded not guilty to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and giving false identification to law enforcement, according to the St. Johns Citizen, which reported the story Wednesday, June 17.
The alleged attack unfolded May 31 at around 10 a.m. at the pickleball courts in St. Augustine’s Treaty Park. According to the affidavit from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office investigation, Bannister and the alleged victim were mid-match when tensions flared over the “retrieval of a ball.”
Once the game wrapped, the alleged victim approached Bannister’s son to discuss his “playing style” — a conversation that authorities say Bannister cut short by stepping in and striking the victim in the head several times with her paddle, per the report.
The alleged victim was left with facial injuries, including multiple cuts and “significant bleeding,” court papers state, as reported by the outlet.
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Deputies further accused Bannister of providing a false name during the investigation; she was ultimately identified through law enforcement databases and a driver’s license photo, according to the report.
The outlet reports that Bannister told deputies she was acting to protect her son, according to warrant papers — but investigators determined there was no “imminent” threat to the child at the time.
Her attorney, Rosemarie Peoples of the Smith & Eulo law firm, is standing firmly behind her client. “Michelle Bannister is a mom, nurse, and model citizen,” Peoples said in a statement to the Citizen. “She is wrongly accused of a crime; her actions were needed to stop a violent attempt to attack her young son. I expect that a jury of her peers will fully exonerate her heroic efforts to defend her child.”
Bannister bonded out on $8,000 and is due back in court next month, according to the report.
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