Teresa Romansky, 35, pleaded guilty to one count each of disturbing the peace and wrongs to minors on Wednesday, October 2, in connection to the June altercation. She was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation and 48 hours of community service. She must also complete a two-day conflict management course and pay $321 in fines and fees.
Romansky's attorney, Richard Anthony Lucero, previously said they would fight the charges, describing Romansky as "the victim of an assault by a gang of juveniles." Lucero now says he is content with the plea deal.
"The city attorney decided to resolve this case in a manner that was acceptable to all parties," he told Westword on Wednesday. During the disposition, Lucero said "Ms. Romansky took responsibility" and "this is an appropriate resolution."
The incident happened on June 28 in Shoemaker Plaza at Denver's Confluence Park. Romansky asked a group of young boys to stop skateboarding because it was "upsetting" her, though there are no signs prohibiting skateboarding in the area, according to a police report. Romansky claimed "a skateboard went near" her head, which prompted her to take eleven-year-old Charleston Davidson's board and throw it into the water. Charleston was not involved in the interaction, but his board was sitting on the ground nearby.
A viral video shows that Romansky went on to physically attack the skateboarders who confronted her about throwing Charleston's board into the river. She is seen chasing, shoving and cursing at the teens and children, and trying to take skateboards and a phone from multiple people.
Allison Parkins, the mother of a thirteen-year-old boy involved in the altercation, calls the guilty plea "wonderful news."
"[The sentence] sounds fair. All I wanted was for her to take accountability," Parkins says. "When I thought she was going to take it to trial, I could not believe how arrogant that was. Like, really?"
Parkins says Romansky pressed charges against her thirteen-year-old son for tossing Romansky's water bottle in the river after Romansky threw Charleston's skateboard in. The case against her son was dismissed on September 12, according to Parkins.
Parkins's son is one of the boys Romansky is seen chasing in the video. It shows the teen confronting her for throwing Charleston's skateboard into the river, at which point the woman runs toward him and screams, "Get the fuck out of here!" He lifts his skateboard and thrusts it at the charging woman, but when he retreats, the woman sprints after him and another boy, yelling, "You want to see what I can fucking do?"
Later in the video, another boy tells her to "look how you made this kid feel," pointing to a crying Charleston. Romansky is then seen pushing the boy, pulling him by the shirt and appearing to swing her fist at his head. (After the video went viral, viewers reached out to gift Charleston with multiple new boards, other skateboarding equipment and money to fund his competitive skating.)
Social media posts of the incident had amassed over 55,000 views on the original post and 164,000 views from a re-post as of mid-September. Both of those posts appear to have been removed from Instagram as of Wednesday.
The notoriety of the incident weighed heavily on Wednesday's court hearing. Senior Assistant City Attorney Katie Conner said Romansky's sentence was "based on the fact that Ms. Romansky has no criminal history" and Lucero noted that Romansky paid Charleston's mother back for his lost $300 skateboard. But they also alluded to the impact the video has had on Romansky.
"I believe she's learned a valuable lesson in this case," Conner said during the sentencing. "The case kind of went viral, so to speak, and she's had a lot of fallout beyond just the criminal side of the case. So, hopefully, she has learned her lesson and we won't be seeing her [again]."
If Romansky violates the law during her one-year probationary period, she will face up to 300 days in jail and $999 in fines for each of the disturbing the peace and wrongs to minors charges. If she complies, her criminal record will be sealed at the end of the year.
Romansky declined to give a sentencing statement to the court on Wednesday.
"All we are missing now is an apology," Parkins says.
