Man booted from Cardinals stadium denies police reports

PHOENIX — A man who was removed from an Arizona Cardinals game after he asked his son to hold his beer has denied police reports that he was being disorderly.

Reports said that when officers saw John Coulter hand his son his beer so he could take a photo, they approached him and informed him he broke the law. Coulter then allegedly became verbally abusive and officers removed him from the stadium because he was disturbing other fans.

Coulter told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR’s Mac & Gaydos that those reports were false.

“There was no hostility throughout the incident,” he said. “It only lasted about five minutes total.”

Coulter denied that he used profanity.

“I didn’t use any profanity. In fact, I didn’t have much of a chance to even talk. I had to interrupt them to ask questions.”

Reports said Coulter was verbally abusive when he was shown a badge identifying the officers, but he said Thursday that when he first saw the badge, he didn’t know what to think.

“I did, at first, think it was fake, but after they were pretty abrupt with me and they were pretty official with me, I figured it was real,” he said.

Coulter said it was his understanding that he was being removed from the game, no matter what happened or who he spoke to, despite the report claiming he had requested to speak with a supervisor.

“There was no indication that they were going to let us stay,” he said. “They said that because he had alcohol in his possession and they observed me giving it to him they had to remove me from the game. They were very clear.”

During the incident, Coulter said he was calm and did not insult anyone. He also said the only time he became slightly upset was when he went through the process to recover his and his son’s identification that the officers had taken.

“We got the IDs back, but it took over an hour,” he said.