Board Game Brawl: Dad Allegedly Pulled Rifle On Teen Daughter Over ‘Battleship’ Cheating

A father-daughter game of Battleship allegedly erupted into a real-world battle according to authorities in Utah.

A Utah man allegedly roughed up his daughter, 17, and then pointed a loaded rifle at her after they accused each other of cheating in the popular board game (which also has electronic versions), a police affidavit claimed.

This altercation apparently occurred during visitation between the two, which turned out unfortunately to be not smooth sailing, which included the dad breaking the game in the course of the dispute.

After the argument broke out, the teen tried to call 911 several times, but her dad took the phone from her before she could talk to a dispatcher. She also apparently made follow-up calls from another, disconnected cell phone.

Cops were able to trace the calls via GPS to a remote trailer, however, where officers responding to the scene in the rural area heard “pounding coming from the trailer and seeing a physical argument between the two people inside,” Desert News reported.

The suspect, identified as John Valenzuela, 68, allegedly had knocked his daughter down and dragged her back into the trailer when she tried to leave.

“Deputies located a loaded rifle inside the trailer and the teen told them Valenzuela had pointed it at her and threatened to shoot himself, the [probable cause] statement said. The teen also told deputies Valenzuela allegedly told her he could ‘break her jaw and bruise her bad,'” KSL reported

The Battleship player may have been bombed at the time of the incident. “Valenzuela was found to have a blood-alcohol level of.113. He was booked into Utah County Jail for investigation of unlawful detention, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, intoxication and interrupting a communication device,” Desert News explained.

“Emergency Medical Service workers checked the girl and found no serious injuries. Officers found a loaded rifle and secured it. Interviewing the man, his story kept changing and was inconsistent. He said he had been drinking whiskey. The girl’s story was consistent with what was heard on the cell phone and her story did not change, police said,” Herald Extra of Provo, Utah, reported.

Commenting on the Battleship-related incident, a Utah County Sheriff’s Department official explained that cops are able to ping cellphones to locate the source of interrupted 911 calls if or when necessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EPQnIn8Zhg

“Most cellphones that are disabled, that don’t have an active account, you can still make an emergency call on it. We’ve used that a lot over the years to help find people who are at risk for harm and to track them down. We’ve had a lot of positive outcomes because of that,” he said.

[top image via Bing]