Report: Vegas swim instructor threw metal water bottle at girl’s head
A Las Vegas swimming instructor has been issued a criminal citation after he was accused of throwing a metal Stanley water bottle at a girl’s head.
Juan Morales, 24, faces assault and malicious destruction of private property citations.
Sandpipers of Nevada head coach and CEO Ronald Aitken emailed a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday in response to the citation.
“Any allegation of inappropriate behavior by any coach is taken very seriously and is thoroughly investigated,” the statement read. “However, we cannot comment on any particular personnel matter as this information involves the employee’s right of privacy and is strictly confidential.”
Las Vegas Department of Public Safety officers responded to the Durango Hills YMCA on Oct. 3 after a report that a swimming instructor yelled and threw a metal water bottle at students.
The girl told police that “she had splashed Morales with water since he had put his foot in her face jokingly the day prior,” according to a report. Morales then started throwing her belongings at her, she said, kicked her Stanley cup and threw it at her head.
Police said the girl declined medical attention and said the cup only hit her hair bun. But her father told officers he wanted to press charges and said a “similar incident” had occurred previously.
Another child told police that the girl “jokingly splashed” Morales and he went “nuts,” kicking belongings toward the victim and throwing her Stanley cup at her, narrowly missing another student, according to the report.
The juveniles’ names are redacted in the report, but a statement that witness gave appears to contradict the police account of what he said. The Stanley cup hit another child, according to his statement.
Morales told an officer that his students weren’t following instructions and admitted to throwing their belongings, according to the police report. He denied throwing anything, police said, but said he’d kicked a Stanley cup.
An officer asked him if he felt he was “out of line” and police said he replied, “Yes(,) I was, (,) sir.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
