A Pickleball Player Is Facing Felony Charges After a Bloody Match

A Pickleball Player Is Facing Felony Charges After a Bloody Match
Jimbo,
Anna Leigh Waters And Jay Devilliers Compete Against Casey Diamond And Sofia Sewing In The Mixed Pro Doubles Gold Medal Match Of The Franklin U.s. Open Pickleball Championships At East Naples Community Park In Naples, Fla., On Saturday, April 18, 2026. Wat
Anna Leigh Waters and Jay Devilliers compete against Casey Diamond and Sofia Sewing in the mixed pro doubles gold medal match of the Franklin U.S. Open Pickleball Championships at East Naples Community Park in Naples, Fla., on Saturday, April 18, 2026. Waters and Devilliers reverse swept for the gold.

You’d imagine there’s a lot of pickleball in Florida, with all the great weather and great grandparents.  But it’s still Florida.

 

A pick-up game of pickleball took a VIOLENT turn in St. Augustine recently, when a woman assaulted a stranger she was playing with.  She hit him in the head with her paddle multiple times . . . causing several cuts and a large amount of blood.

 

The assailant was a woman named Michele Bannister.  She told police it was necessary to stop a “violent attempt” to attack her son . . . but deputies say there was no “imminent threat” to her child.

 

It’s unclear how old the son was, but he was old enough to play.  The police believe Michele was enraged when the guy “critiqued” the son’s play.

 

She’s been charged with felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and false identification given to an officer.  She gave police a fake name . . . calling herself “Aiyanna Lei” twice, before officers tracked her down.

(Action News Jax / Local 12 / Law and Crime)

 

 

(Here’s her mugshot.)

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