Earlier this month, three men involved in Aggie football were charged for participating in a “2017 assault that left a Utah State University student with significant injuries.” Two of the men are also named in a separate civil suit as well. According to police reports, the men include Ricky Ali’Ifua, his brother Demytrick Ali’Ifua, and Aaron Wade and claim the three were “working at the Castle Manor where they were providing security during the Halloween Costume Catastrophe on Oct. 28 last year.” During the party, the victim alleges one of the men “became angered when the victim bumped into him just before a promotional event that night” and threw a punch at him that missed. Unfortunately for the victim, that was just the beginning of a night he wouldn’t soon forget.

Football and Football Helmet; image courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors via Pixabay, www.pixabay.com

About a half an hour after approaching the victim and throwing a punch at him that missed, the same man approached him and “reached out to shake hands in an apparent gesture of goodwill before sucker-punching him with a blow that made him fall backward.” At that time, the other two suspects joined in and allegedly began punching him in the head. As a result, he was left with a “concussion and numerous other injuries.” Fortunately, the incident was captured on video.After the incident, the victim sought out medical treatment for his concussion and other injuries and “filed a police report the following day." From there, North Park Police spent the next seven months identifying the suspects and getting their sides of the story about what happened. After careful investigation, it was discovered that the three suspects all “played football at Utah State University, with Wade and Demytrick Ali’Ifua still on the team.” Ricky Ali-ifua is currently on the Seattle Seahawks roster.It should be noted that, despite the seriousness of the victim’s injuries, the case was not filed in district court. Instead, all three of the suspects were “charged in May with misdemeanor offenses and…scheduled to appear in front of Judge David Marx in Hyde Park’s justice court Nov 5.” In a fight to seek additional justice for his ordeal, the victim filed a civil suit earlier this month in 1st District Court and is seeking “damages for medical and dental expenses resulting from the assault on him.”While the civil suit does not name Wade, it does name both the Ali’Ifua brothers, “along with Viko Noma Aea, Dane Cooper and CJ O’Neal, dba VikoCJDane, who reportedly promoted, managed, or supervised the Halloween Costume Catastrophe.”

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Aggie football players face charges, lawsuit in alleged assaultRicky Ali'ifua, Seattle Seahawks