Former Gophers QB Phillip Nelson arrested in his hometown of Mankato for assault

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zman said:
Reading that story makes me feel even worse about all the crap said on this forum. Sad situation.
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Indeed. Even if he makes it, it sounds like his quality of life will be greatly diminished. Ugh.
 

BleedGopher said:
An updated statement from the Kolstad family:

Here is the statement in full:

Isaac remains in critical condition at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

Due to the injuries Isaac sustained early last Sunday morning, his brain had severe bruising and swelling, increasing the pressure within his skull to life-threatening levels. In order to relieve the swelling, he required emergency surgery on his brain early Tuesday morning. Isaac had a significant amount of his brain tissue that was no longer viable removed during that procedure.

Even though the surgery was successful, the swelling in Isaac’s brain remains significant; leaving him at high risk for further injury and potentially additional surgical procedures. Isaac’s lungs also sustained severe injury, resulting in the inability to breathe on his own. He also sustained a lack of oxygen to his brain.

Isaac continues to be in a medically induced coma, utilizing life support to keep him breathing. Yesterday, Friday, May 16, Isaac underwent his second major surgery, a Tracheotomy operation. This helps manage his breathing while on life support.



http://www.startribune.com/local/259665931.html
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Christ, that's awful, and it's things like that which might seriously break ones heart, to think the loss and waste, and how one tragic moment in time can change everything so irrevocably, and how you can never see that coming, especially in the halcyon days of youth.

It makes me f*cking weep, the lot of it, and especially to think this young person losing portions of his brain, and all due to one innocuous and drunken night, and much less, distilled down to one moment, one singular instant in time, where before you're whole, and next you're gone, and how things will never be the same again afterwards, and the endless repurcussions that, and how but there for grace of God go I, as I used to fight regularly as well as engage in endless alcohol-fueled stupidity in my younger years.

It does make me cry, for him, and them, and all of it, and to be so powerless, such as all you can do is pray, and pray, and pray.

Pray for him, pray his wife, his children, and his family.
 

BleedGopher said:
An updated statement from the Kolstad family:

Here is the statement in full:

Isaac remains in critical condition at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

Due to the injuries Isaac sustained early last Sunday morning, his brain had severe bruising and swelling, increasing the pressure within his skull to life-threatening levels. In order to relieve the swelling, he required emergency surgery on his brain early Tuesday morning. Isaac had a significant amount of his brain tissue that was no longer viable removed during that procedure.

Even though the surgery was successful, the swelling in Isaac’s brain remains significant; leaving him at high risk for further injury and potentially additional surgical procedures. Isaac’s lungs also sustained severe injury, resulting in the inability to breathe on his own. He also sustained a lack of oxygen to his brain.

Isaac continues to be in a medically induced coma, utilizing life support to keep him breathing. Yesterday, Friday, May 16, Isaac underwent his second major surgery, a Tracheotomy operation. This helps manage his breathing while on life support.

Isaac’s care team of neurosurgeons, physicians, nurses, therapists and others are doing everything they possibly can each day to keep Isaac alive and fighting. We are blessed to have Mayo Clinic care so close to home for Isaac. There is no doubt in our minds he is receiving the very best care available.

We want to thank everyone for their support and ongoing efforts to help our family. We cannot begin to express our gratitude. As Mankato natives, we are so proud of our community and are incredibly inspired by the things going on around us. Your continued prayers and encouragement are needed and greatly appreciated.

We would ask members of the news media and others to continue to respect our request and need for privacy at this time. We have requested that no further information (beyond his medical condition) be released. Thank you for your understanding and continued thoughts and prayers for Isaac, our family and all others who are involved in this situation.

#22strong
The Kolstad Family

http://www.startribune.com/local/259665931.html
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What a shame - so many lives destroyed over something so stupid. Makes me sad and very angry.
 

Seany said:
Christ, that's awful, and it's things like that which might seriously break ones heart, to think the loss and waste, and how one tragic moment in time can change everything so irrevocably, and how you can never see that coming, especially in the halcyon days of youth.

It makes me f*cking weep, the lot of it, and especially to think this young person losing portions of his brain, and all due to one innocuous and drunken night, and much less, distilled down to one moment, one singular instant in time, where before you're whole, and next you're gone, and how things will never be the same again afterwards, and the endless repurcussions that, and how but there for grace of God go I, as I used to fight regularly as well as engage in endless alcohol-fueled stupidity in my younger years.

It does make me cry, for him, and them, and all of it, and to be so powerless, such as all you can do is pray, and pray, and pray.

Pray for him, pray his wife, his children, and his family.
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And, we pray for you too, for the GH community, that all may remain safe from such personal disasters.
 



Seany said:
Christ, that's awful, and it's things like that which might seriously break ones heart, to think the loss and waste, and how one tragic moment in time can change everything so irrevocably, and how you can never see that coming, especially in the halcyon days of youth.

It makes me f*cking weep, the lot of it, and especially to think this young person losing portions of his brain, and all due to one innocuous and drunken night, and much less, distilled down to one moment, one singular instant in time, where before you're whole, and next you're gone, and how things will never be the same again afterwards, and the endless repurcussions that, and how but there for grace of God go I, as I used to fight regularly as well as engage in endless alcohol-fueled stupidity in my younger years.

It does make me cry, for him, and them, and all of it, and to be so powerless, such as all you can do is pray, and pray, and pray.

Pray for him, pray his wife, his children, and his family.
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I am so sick to my stomach thinking about one senseless event changing forever so many lives. We can't change what happened.

My prayers go out to Isaac & his family and to PN and the other kid.

Coaches can't remind players enough to act responsibly when going out socializing. Something horribly bad with life changing consequences can happen when alcohol is involved.
 

I would guess in the next week or 2 that they will take Isaac off of life support... such a sad situation for the family to make these decisions.
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
I would guess in the next week or 2 that they will take Isaac off of life support... such a sad situation for the family to make these decisions.
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Which will open up a new set of charges upon Phillip. BAD BAD BAD all the way around.
 

My grade school son is a big Gopher fan and this incident challenged me to have a talk with him that I never got as a kid. The whole, hit the kid back who starts it, machismo mentality is backwards and this incident is a good reminder of its consequences. Same goes for running your mouth back to an idiot who's looking to start trouble, I was more guilty of this one and paid the price as a kid. My son will now watch a player he idolized stand trial and possibly get sentenced to prison. I guess it will also lead into a good discussion about drinking too. Talk to your kids about being smart about drinking, identifying situations that require composure, as well as when to recognize someone you should avoid. Both parties in this incident failed those tests. In the end, how many of us are lucky that we didn't piss our lives away in college?
 



This is so heartbreaking. So senseless, so ridiculous.

A tremendous lack of fortune on all sides. At least Nelson and Shelley will be able to live their lives again after this is all said and done and the prices of their transgressions are paid.

A few seconds in time and three lives directly destroyed; and the lives of all of their poor family members shaken to the core. No one could have meant for this to happen. This is what a lot of nightmares are made of.
 



So according to the Strib article, both Kolstad and Nelson are great kids from great families, but what's the story on that Shelley kid? I don't think this is his first run-in with the law.
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
So according to the Strib article, both Kolstad and Nelson are great kids from great families, but what's the story on that Shelley kid? I don't think this is his first run-in with the law.
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I think I read he's had some run ins with the law, but I don't know what, or how they factor into this equation? IK screwed up when he lost his cool & hit PN from behind. That doesn't mean he got what he deserved, obviously not. It's heart breaking. I have a wife & three little girls, I get it. Still, if he doesn't clock PN from behind, he's probably at home with his family right now.

PN seems like a spoiled dickhead. That doesn't mean he isn't entitled to the same legal protections as the rest of us. It can/will be argued that despite starting most of this (apparently) with his jealousy, he was walking away from the situation when he was attacked. What was supposed to do at that point? It can/will be argued that while IK's buddy talked to him about walking away, he was blindsided by a big, physical man, so hard that he was knocked to the ground, along with at least IK's buddy. How does he know IK's buddy didn't just set him up for a sucker punch? Was he supposed to lay on the ground waiting to find out of he'd be hit again? Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the fight/flight mechanism, maybe he was seeing starts from the blow, but he had been attacked now and was in a fight with a great big attacker. Was he capable of understanding how badly IK was already injured when he got up & kicked him? Isn't it likely IK was already brain damaged? The witnesses claim he was knocked cold (by Shelley), didn't get his hands out to brace himself & "smoked his head on the pavement" when he fell.

Shelley, who I believe inadvertently caused the real damage also is a weird case. A skinny guy, he went way out of his weight class to go after a VERY big, strong guy & pretty much killed him with one punch. I didn't have to hear he has a criminal background to know this wasn't his first rodeo. Still, he too is entitled to the same legal defenses as anyone else, no matter how much I might not like it. Most of us, if we were there and saw a great big guy like IK blindside someone, would have CHEERED when TS clocked him. No one likes a bully & sadly, at that moment in time (not generally), that's what IK was being.

Then his head hit the concrete, then PN kicked him in the head. Here we are. Complex, disturbing, not cut & dry.
 

devil's advocate/ me a jerk.

from the beginning it has been doom and gloom for the victim/instatgator. Court of public opinion card has been played. It is now time for the 'miracle' turnaround with the guy in a coma to fight back and KARE 11 will be there for the whole thing. These attorneys are whip smart and know what to to say and when to say it. The understand the court case began rt after the attack.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
PN seems like a spoiled dickhead. That doesn't mean he isn't entitled to the same legal protections as the rest of us. It can/will be argued that despite starting most of this (apparently) with his jealousy, he was walking away from the situation when he was attacked. What was supposed to do at that point? It can/will be argued that while IK's buddy talked to him about walking away, he was blindsided by a big, physical man, so hard that he was knocked to the ground, along with at least IK's buddy. How does he know IK's buddy didn't just set him up for a sucker punch? Was he supposed to lay on the ground waiting to find out of he'd be hit again? Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the fight/flight mechanism, maybe he was seeing starts from the blow, but he had been attacked now and was in a fight with a great big attacker. Was he capable of understanding how badly IK was already injured when he got up & kicked him? Isn't it likely IK was already brain damaged? The witnesses claim he was knocked cold (by Shelley), didn't get his hands out to brace himself & "smoked his head on the pavement" when he fell.
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I don't buy the argument that Nelson was justified in kicking Kolstad in the head when he was lying on the ground and not moving a muscle. He didn't have the right to do that anymore than the guy upnorth who shot the two teenage burglars and then finished them off with "kill shots". A Mankato jury may find Nelson "Not Guilty" for what he did but that doesn't mean he is innocent. And we have yet to find out what Nelson said to Kolstad that started the fight in the first place. Nelson may not have thrown the first punch but he was the initial instigator of the whole mess. He will live with what happened for the rest of his life. There won't be a day that goes by when he won't think about it.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I think I read he's had some run ins with the law, but I don't know what, or how they factor into this equation? IK screwed up when he lost his cool & hit PN from behind. That doesn't mean he got what he deserved, obviously not. It's heart breaking. I have a wife & three little girls, I get it. Still, if he doesn't clock PN from behind, he's probably at home with his family right now.

PN seems like a spoiled dickhead. That doesn't mean he isn't entitled to the same legal protections as the rest of us. It can/will be argued that despite starting most of this (apparently) with his jealousy, he was walking away from the situation when he was attacked. What was supposed to do at that point? It can/will be argued that while IK's buddy talked to him about walking away, he was blindsided by a big, physical man, so hard that he was knocked to the ground, along with at least IK's buddy. How does he know IK's buddy didn't just set him up for a sucker punch? Was he supposed to lay on the ground waiting to find out of he'd be hit again? Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the fight/flight mechanism, maybe he was seeing starts from the blow, but he had been attacked now and was in a fight with a great big attacker. Was he capable of understanding how badly IK was already injured when he got up & kicked him? Isn't it likely IK was already brain damaged? The witnesses claim he was knocked cold (by Shelley), didn't get his hands out to brace himself & "smoked his head on the pavement" when he fell.

Shelley, who I believe inadvertently caused the real damage also is a weird case. A skinny guy, he went way out of his weight class to go after a VERY big, strong guy & pretty much killed him with one punch. I didn't have to hear he has a criminal background to know this wasn't his first rodeo. Still, he too is entitled to the same legal defenses as anyone else, no matter how much I might not like it. Most of us, if we were there and saw a great big guy like IK blindside someone, would have CHEERED when TS clocked him. No one likes a bully & sadly, at that moment in time (not generally), that's what IK was being.

Then his head hit the concrete, then PN kicked him in the head. Here we are. Complex, disturbing, not cut & dry.
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This is spot on IMO. I also don't think there is any comparison to the Little Falls case as made by Upnorth. That case fell on pre-meditation (see moving his P/U to another spot and setting up a "kill zone" in his basement) and played out over a period of time. This case was a spur of the moment event where each of the parties each reacted in an unthinking way. From reports, the entire incident last no longer than 15 seconds. Talk through the sequence of events and it takes you longer to read through them than the actual incident did. PN made a horrible decision in a period of a few seconds, for that he will have to answer to the scales of justice as well as his own conscious (as Upnorth correctly points out). That said, as CRG said, this is not as cut and dry as many would like it to be. CRG's post (in particular the second paragraph) sums it up about as well as it can be summed up. My thoughts and prayers are with the Kolstad family, this is a tragedy for them first and foremost. That said, had the situation stopped immediately after his backside punch, the narrative here would be completely different with IK as instigator not a victim. If you sequence this out, there are no parties that are completely innocent here. Just a sad, tragic situation.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Shelley, who I believe inadvertently caused the real damage also is a weird case. A skinny guy, he went way out of his weight class to go after a VERY big, strong guy & pretty much killed him with one punch. I didn't have to hear he has a criminal background to know this wasn't his first rodeo. Still, he too is entitled to the same legal defenses as anyone else, no matter how much I might not like it. Most of us, if we were there and saw a great big guy like IK blindside someone, would have CHEERED when TS clocked him. No one likes a bully & sadly, at that moment in time (not generally), that's what IK was being.

Then his head hit the concrete, then PN kicked him in the head. Here we are. Complex, disturbing, not cut & dry.
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Are you Kolstad's doctor? If not, how did you get that Shelley "pretty much killed him with one punch". The amount of people on this thread who are making these baseless assertions is laughable. For all you or I know, Shelley's punch did 0 damage to his skull / brain, and the kick was responsible for all of that. No one but the doctors know, so don't pass off your opinions as facts.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
Are you Kolstad's doctor? If not, how did you get that Shelley "pretty much killed him with one punch". The amount of people on this thread who are making these baseless assertions is laughable. For all you or I know, Shelley's punch did 0 damage to his skull / brain, and the kick was responsible for all of that. No one but the doctors know, so don't pass off your opinions as facts.
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It's pretty amazing how 15 seconds of drunk chest pounding/barfighting can end up so tragically.
The fact that Kolstad pushed Nelson from behind knocking him down is bush league IMO, the sucker punch out of nowhere from Shelly is really bush league IMO, Nelson getting up and kicking Kolstad is bush league, kicking him in the head is unbelievably stupid and cowardly.
We've all seen this exact scenario on the streets outside of bars in college towns and all over the country. I've seen it several times, the only difference here is that Kolstad's head hit the concrete and escalated the whole thing by the seriousness of his injury.
I never went out without good freinds there to watch each others' backs, help each other from doing stupid or dangerous things. A few guys with cooler heads holding Kolstad back, Nelson back, or Shelley back would have overcome the macho stupidity that now ends in 3 young lives ruined.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
Are you Kolstad's doctor? If not, how did you get that Shelley "pretty much killed him with one punch". The amount of people on this thread who are making these baseless assertions is laughable. For all you or I know, Shelley's punch did 0 damage to his skull / brain, and the kick was responsible for all of that. No one but the doctors know, so don't pass off your opinions as facts.
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Given the doctors training, do they really know how it was damaged, or are they just putting in an educated guess. I don't thing the doctors matter to a jury.
 

vinko bogataj said:
This is spot on IMO. I also don't think there is any comparison to the Little Falls case as made by Upnorth. That case fell on pre-meditation (see moving his P/U to another spot and setting up a "kill zone" in his basement) and played out over a period of time. T
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I think the principle at work in the Little Falls case also applies to Nelson. Once the perpetrator's injuries prevent him from being an imminent threat to anyone the initial victim has to back off and leave the scene to further protect himself, or call the police. The guy in Little Falls didn't do either one and neither did Nelson.
 

Dean S said:
Given the doctors training, do they really know how it was damaged, or are they just putting in an educated guess. I don't thing the doctors matter to a jury.
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Not in criminal court. Once Nelson gets slapped with a civil suit it will matter.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
I think the principle at work in the Little Falls case also applies to Nelson. Once the perpetrator's injuries prevent him from being an imminent threat the initial victim has to back off and leave the scene to further protect himself, or call the police, or do both. The guy in Little Falls didn't do either one and neither did Nelson.
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This is a decent analogy, made more powerful by the fact that Nelson was not in his own domicile. Nelson could have retreated, which he had a duty to do if possible.

He's screwed.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
Are you Kolstad's doctor? If not, how did you get that Shelley "pretty much killed him with one punch". The amount of people on this thread who are making these baseless assertions is laughable. For all you or I know, Shelley's punch did 0 damage to his skull / brain, and the kick was responsible for all of that. No one but the doctors know, so don't pass off your opinions as facts.
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The eyewitnesses said Kolstad was completely out on his feet from the punch (I almost wonder if TS had brass knuckles, a roll of coins or something in his hand?), didn't get his hands out to brace his fall & (their words) "smoked his head on the pavement". Multiple witnesses described the disgusting splat of his head slamming into the concrete. Multiple witnesses described how disturbingly loud the splat was. One punch knockouts kill people all the time & it's almost always the victim going limp, not getting their hands out & smashing their heads in during the fall that kills them. I think it's far more reasonable that this was the case, than PN's rubber tennis shoe did that type of damage.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
I think the principle at work in the Little Falls case also applies to Nelson. Once the perpetrator's injuries prevent him from being an imminent threat to anyone the initial victim has to back off and leave the scene to further protect himself or call the police. The guy in Little Falls didn't do either one and neither did Nelson.
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How was PN supposed to know IK's injuries prevented him from being an imminent threat? Clearly he could see he was on the ground, but guys get up off the ground all the time & this particular guy was a great big lug who'd just sucker punched him. PN never saw the punch that ko'd IK, never saw the fall that splatted his head & had IK's buddy between himself & IK blocking his view. It's going to be VERY hard to prove PN knew IK was no longer an imminent threat.
 

akgopher said:
My grade school son is a big Gopher fan and this incident challenged me to have a talk with him that I never got as a kid. The whole, hit the kid back who starts it, machismo mentality is backwards and this incident is a good reminder of its consequences. Same goes for running your mouth back to an idiot who's looking to start trouble, I was more guilty of this one and paid the price as a kid. My son will now watch a player he idolized stand trial and possibly get sentenced to prison. I guess it will also lead into a good discussion about drinking too. Talk to your kids about being smart about drinking, identifying situations that require composure, as well as when to recognize someone you should avoid. Both parties in this incident failed those tests. In the end, how many of us are lucky that we didn't piss our lives away in college?
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I think these are good talking points. Also talking about healthy relationships with women where you are not freakishly possessive and jealous.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
How was PN supposed to know IK's injuries prevented him from being an imminent threat? Clearly he could see he was on the ground, but guys get up off the ground all the time & this particular guy was a great big lug who'd just sucker punched him. PN never saw the punch that ko'd IK, never saw the fall that splatted his head & had IK's buddy between himself & IK blocking his view. It's going to be VERY hard to prove PN knew IK was no longer an imminent threat.
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It wont be hard to prove he kicked him in the head though....

While he was on the ground I might add.
 


UpnorthGo4 said:
I think the principle at work in the Little Falls case also applies to Nelson. Once the perpetrator's injuries prevent him from being an imminent threat to anyone the initial victim has to back off and leave the scene to further protect himself or call the police. The guy in Little Falls didn't do either one and neither did Nelson.
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Establishing that he knew the imminent threat was no longer there will not be a simple hurdle to clear. Try this. Check your watch, throw yourself to the ground, scramble to your feet with someone yelling something random with your radio turned up in the background (creation of situational chaos), get up and kick a preset ball. Do this in 15 seconds and try to quote verbatim what the random comment was. I am not justifying PN's actions, just stating that this is not as cut and dry as some here want to make it appear. Far different than establishing a kill zone and laying out a tarp. PN's likely timeframe to establish imminent threat within a reasonable context now drops to a second or two. He likely will, and should, do time. That said, there is little similarity to the Little Falls case. While the law is pretty clear, any good lawyer will use the timeframe to argue that PN couldn't establish whether the imminent threat had passed or not. There was zero question on that in the LF case.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
How was PN supposed to know IK's injuries prevented him from being an imminent threat? Clearly he could see he was on the ground, but guys get up off the ground all the time & this particular guy was a great big lug who'd just sucker punched him. PN never saw the punch that ko'd IK, never saw the fall that splatted his head & had IK's buddy between himself & IK blocking his view. It's going to be VERY hard to prove PN knew IK was no longer an imminent threat.
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You keep referring to Kolstad as "huge" and "big" and say that you saw him referred to somewhere as 280 lbs. Can you cite where you saw this? I've seen many pictures of him since this incident, and unless those are very old pictures, he's nowhere near 280 lbs.
 

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