Randy Peterson, a beat writer who covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register, suffered a broken leg Thursday night when Cyclones fans stormed the court following their win over in-state rival Iowa. After receiving treatment, Peterson wanted to make it clear that he was not trampled by fans, as many are claiming.
On Friday morning, Peterson tweeted that he recalls having “locked legs” with someone else:
Just to be clear, I was not trampled by the crowd, I locked legs with someone,,,,, I think.
— Randy Peterson (@RandyPete) December 11, 2015
Peterson later told “The Dan Patrick Show” that he was trying to beat the fans onto the court and that he was knocked down:
"I walk courtside of the scorers table…..I knew the students would come. I was trying to beat it. It wasn't just students."
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) December 11, 2015
"I was not trampled…I was knocked to the ground. But as soon as i went to the ground, people were there to help me." – Randy Peterson.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) December 11, 2015
"I'm ok with it, but let people who need to get off the floor get off first." – Randy Peterson on court storming.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) December 11, 2015
Photos showed Peterson being carted away with his left leg in a cast. You can see a couple of those images here.
We know storming the court can be dangerous, and many will be calling for schools to put an end to it following the incident with Peterson. However, it’s possible that what happened was — as he implied — some sort of fluke accident. He wasn’t necessarily trampled by a stampede of crazy college kids.
