Members of semi-pro football team defend player after arrest

MANCHESTER, NH (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Members of a semi-pro football team are speaking out to defend their quarterback after he was arrested during a brawl on the field.

Manchester Police arrested Michael Vinagro, a player with the New Hampshire Wolfpack, Sunday evening after the Wolfpack's game against the Whaling City Clippers erupted into chaos.

"Their coach and the whole team came to our sideline," Wolfpack coach Jim Harmon told FOX25. "I've never seen anything like it."

Harmon and other players said the Clippers were angry after the Wolfpack attempted an onside kick in the last few minutes of the game when the Clippers were already heavily losing.

"Before I know it, I turn around and their whole team's on our sideline," Michael Vinagro said.

Police said members of both teams were physically assaulting each other when they arrived, and that one Clippers player was on the field, unconscious, after he was struck with a helmet.

"Everybody started yelling for the trainers, waving us over," Wolfpack's team chiropractor Dr. Eric O'Connell told FOX25. "The player was unconscious, unresponsive to any of our testing."

Vinagro, who said he was buried under a pile of players during the brawl, told Fox 25 that when he finally broke free, he was arrested and charged with assaulting the Clippers player. Vinagro claimed videos taken from the field show he was not the player who swung the helmet, and now wants to clear his name - and his team's reputation.

"I don't know exactly what happened, all I know is that somebody got hit with a helmet and out of everybody that was there, I was the one that got pinned to do it," Vinagro said.

Police also arrested the Clippers quarterback, Dagnir Pina, after they said he verbally assaulted an officer trying to clear the parking lot following the brawl.
The Clippers coach told FOX25 he had not seen the video of the brawl, and said he could not comment on if his coaches were involved in the melee, but called the incident "unfortunate."

The player who was knocked unconscious has been diagnosed with a concussion and will not be able to play for the remainder of the season.

Cox Media Group