Michael Stallone of Floral Park charged with assault for allegedly assaulting 11-girl at soccer game, officials say

A Floral Park father who says he was only trying to help has been banned from a Long Island soccer league after allegedly smacking an 11-year-old girl who collided with another player on his daughter’s team during a game at the Mitchel Athletic Complex last month, according to authorities.

Michael Stallone, 43, was arrested around 2 p.m. on Sept. 28 during a match for girls under 12 in Garden City on charges of third-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and drug possession, according to a criminal complaint.

"This whole thing is a misunderstanding about what was going on here," the defense attorney Marc Gann said. "There was no assault here, nor was it Mr. Stallone's intention to get involved with or potentially hurt any child. He was coming to the aid of a child who was knocked to the ground."

Gann said that Stallone, who has two daughters — one who plays on the team — witnessed a violent collision between the two children during the Sunday game and stepped onto the field to help.

Stallone stood at the sideline, mere feet from where the two girls crashed into each other, which he said was audible to everyone on the field.

"The witnesses that I've spoken to say that they could hear the bones connecting," Gann said of the impact.

The lawyer said that the taller of the two girls hit face-to-head with the smaller girl from Stallone’s daughter’s team, knocking her temporarily unconscious on the ground.

"Mr. Stallone was feet away from where this happened and just ran onto the field as a reaction to try and assist the player on the field who seemed to be really hurt," Gann said. "He may have nudged her out of the way to get to the child on the ground."

According to the criminal complaint, which identifies the injured girl as Stallone’s daughter, the alleged victim said that he struck her in the face with "an open hand and elbow."

"A parent from the other team yelled out, ‘He hit my daughter,’" Gann said. "But I don’t think that’s what happened."

Nassau County police arrested Stallone and found a single oxycontin pill in an unmarked bottle in his pocket.

The pill was prescribed, Gann said, and he expects that charge to be dropped.

Stallone, a landscaper currently on disability due to a work injury, takes the medication "as needed," the lawyer said.

The Long Island Soccer Club said Thursday that they had looked into the incident and temporarily banned Stallone.

"Following the incident, LISC conducted an investigation, which resulted in the parent, who was involved in the incident, being notified that he would be suspended indefinitely from all program activities, including attendance at future matches," the league said in a statement, adding that they have a "zero-tolerance policy" toward any parent behavior which they said "undermine player safety or sportsmanship."

Gann called the choice to charge him criminally as an "overreaction."

"He takes care of his two girls," Gann said of his client. "No issues in the community. Really a mild manner, nice guy who is himself upset that anybody misinterpreted his conduct and his actions or assumed that he would want to, or intend to, or would, in fact, cause harm to any other child."