Teresa Romansky, 35, was charged with one count each of disturbing the peace and wrongs to minors, according to Denver County Court records. She has a hearing scheduled on October 2, at which point she will enter a plea.
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 the police incident 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.
Romansky's attorney, Richard Anthony Lucero, says they plan to fight the charges and take the case to trial.
"We feel that she was actually the victim of an assault by a gang of juveniles and she defended herself," Lucero says. "These young men just continued to harass her and threaten her. ... We look forward to defending the case in court."
Allison Parkins, the mother of a thirteen-year-old boy involved in the altercation, calls Romansky "silly" for fighting the charges.
"[Romansky] has no sense of accountability," Parkins says. "I want to believe it will be hard to convince the court that what she did was justified, but unfortunately, the reality is she may get away with it."
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 Thursday, September 12, according to Parkins.
"Everyone was perplexed as to why he was even there [in court]," Parkins says. "They let us go within five minutes."
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.
Witnesses who intervened during the altercation told Westword the woman seemed "obviously intoxicated" and that the situation had largely de-escalated by the time police, whom Romansky had called, arrived. No arrests were made and no criminal charges were initially filed, though a case against Romansky was later opened in August.
Throughout the video, the woman makes remarks about the boys "coming at" her and not leaving her alone, later saying the boys "antagonized" and "assaulted" her, though none of those allegations are noted in the police incident report. Witnesses described Romansky as being the aggressor from the start.
Charleston called the experience "traumatizing," telling Westword that he would "remember that for the rest of my life."
Charleston has been skateboarding since he was four years old and hopes to become a professional skateboarder when he grows up. He had just purchased a new deck three days before the incident with money from his eleventh birthday; the entire board cost nearly $300.
Romansky reimbursed Charleston's mother for the lost skateboard, but the Denver community went even further.
After the video of the incident amassed over 55,000 views on the original post and 164,000 views from a re-post, viewers reached out to gift Charleston with multiple new boards, other skateboarding equipment and money to fund his competitive skating. The team behind the popular Instagram account Foos From Denver, which reposted the video, also held an event celebrating Charleston and the local skating community.
"Charleston is doing great and still continuing to skateboard," says his mother, Stacia Davidson. "The charges [against Romansky] are good, justice for the kids. It's good to know that the incident is being handled."
