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Notre Dame

Video surfaces from Marcus Freeman incident leading to battery accusation

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp01/12/26

Just hours after the St. Joseph’s County Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would not file any criminal charges against Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman over an alleged battery incident, the Mishawaka Police Department has released security camera footage. It shows very little untoward happening, as outlined by the Prosecutor Office’s review.

You can view the footage below. It was provided by Bennett Wise of WSBT.

As noted, no charges will be filed against Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman following an allegation of battery stemming from a recent incident at a high school wrestling event. The incident in question also involved Freeman’s son, Vinny, a Cornell wrestling commitment.

The incident in question occurred on Jan. 3 at a high school wrestling match. Freeman was named as an alleged suspect in a battery report filed by New Prairie High assistant wrestling coach Chris Fleeger stemming from an incident that also involved Vinny.

According to a Sunday report in the South Bend Tribune, Marcus Freeman and his wife, Joanna, allegedly engaged in a shouting match with Fleeger after the New Prairie High assistant wrestling coach accosted the Freemans and Penn head coach Brad Harper as they were escorting Vinny Freeman off the mat after he lost a match against Hanover Central senior Israel Sinnott. The South Bend Tribune report alleges Marcus Freeman walked back through a doorway into a hallway and “physical contact” between Fleeger and himself allegedly occurred, though police did not disclose the extent of the alleged contact.

The Prosecutor’s Office could not find enough to support those claims. It noted that “a review of the video evidence does not support those assertions.”

Fleeger maintained that Marcus Freeman gave him a two-handed shove. That is not what the video evidence the Prosecutor’s Office reviewed showed, per the statement released Monday.

“As Mr. Freeman walked toward the doors, the video shows the Complainant moving from his position near the doors and approach Mr. Freeman,” the statement from the Prosecutor’s Office read. “Mr. Freeman turned toward the Complainant and paused for approximately one second. Mr. Freeman then left the auditorium at a walk.

“The video shows that while Mr. Freeman’s right arm is not fully visible, his left hand remained in a pocket during the interaction between the Complainant and Mr. Freeman. The head and body movements of both the Complainant and Mr. Freeman do not support the supposition that any violent physical contact occurred.”