by Matt Weik, BS, CSCS, CPT, CSN
The fitness industry has been experiencing a never-ending walk of shame lately. That said, Wes Watson seems to be front and center these days. Mainly because he can’t shut his mouth.
He recently got into an altercation at the gym he workouts out at, which led to the police being called and Wes Watson being arrested. If you need to be brought up to speed with what’s going on, Jon Bravo has done a fantastic job covering the storyline of this big-mouthed individual — go check out his YouTube channel and give him a follow.
But, with everything that’s going on, many people are speculating if he’s going to go to prison or not. Personally, I think he’s going to see jail time. Perhaps he takes a plea deal that prevents him from sitting behind bars, but from the evidence I’ve seen presented online and the live feed of the fight, I really think he’s guilty based on the tapes.
In this article, I’m going to provide my opinion as to the five major reasons Wes Watson may face jail time.
Disclaimer: To preface this entire article, I want to say that this is my opinion. While I have had my fair share of tactical training and courses on the legality of “the fight,” I am not a police officer, lawyer, or judge. The legal system will do its part in determining if Wes Watson will see time behind bars. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
1. Provoking People to Come Fight Him (Instigating the Fight)
It’s incredibly hard to tell the police you’re a victim when you go on social media regularly and tell people to “pull up.” When you’re the instigator here, you aren’t the victim. You can’t play the victim when you’re actively telling people to come fight you.
When you talk about people coming to the gym, and you can walk down the street away from the gym and fight, that’s not exactly trying to de-escalate a situation with trolls online. The fact that he’s telling trolls to fight him really shows his mental instability. If you can’t ignore haters and trolls, you’re truly a weak individual.
2. Hitting the Man with a Weight Belt
Hitting someone with an object when fighting is a sure way to get the jury to look at you in a different way. If there were four fists flying, they might see the side that Wes Watson is presenting. BUT… he decided to hit the guy with a weight belt during the onset of the fight when things were just getting started.
That weight belt could be considered a weapon and used as such, and in the eyes of a judge and jury, that decision could come back to bite Wes Watson in the butt. It’s no different than a man saying he wants to fight you without a weapon, and you pull out your firearm and shoot him.
There are levels of escalation that people need to be aware of, and hitting people with an object when they aren’t armed with anything could further escalate the charges.
3. His “Boys” Jumping in Didn’t Help His Defense
Anyone who watches the video evidence from the fight can see it was a beatdown on the guy. Wes Watson and all his boys jumped in and beat this man senselessly. One guy even hit the man with a dumbbell. Did Wes tell them to stop? No. He urged them to get in on it.
And you can’t say these men jumped in to protect Wes Watson, as the other man in the fight didn’t even appear to hit Wes at all during the altercation. Not only that, but they teamed up on the man, and all he could do was try to protect his head and face from the barrage of punches and kicks from Wes and his friends.
4. Failure to Stop When Threat Was Down
In the tactical world, you shoot a threat until they are no longer a threat. From that point on, anything you do will turn you into a criminal. For instance, if someone breaks into your house, you shoot them, and they fall to the ground. They clearly aren’t getting up due to you shooting them, yet you walk up and shoot him several more times as you stand over his body.
Guess what? You went from self-defense with something like the Castle Doctrine or Stand Your Ground to a murderer. You had the ability to stop after the threat was no longer a threat, but you continued to pursue the person.
Wes Watson was seen walking over to the man as he lay on the floor, clearly dazed and unwilling to continue fighting, and Wes soccer-kicked the man in the face. THAT is escalation. The man wasn’t a threat anymore. NOW, the man clearly becomes the victim.
Even when defending yourself, you are to escape at any point you can. There were MANY instances where Wes Watson could have walked away from the scenario and separated himself. But he didn’t. He stayed engaged the entire time. He continued to push forward and attack the man who clearly did not want to continue this altercation. The fact that Wes Watson failed to escape when he had the opportunity (if he truly thought his life was in danger) shows Wes wanted to continue the fight and wanted to do the man harm. Now, he’s found himself in cuffs.
5. Never Speak to Police Without Your Lawyer
Here’s my advice to anyone who is involved in a shooting or altercation. You politely tell the police you will fully cooperate and provide your side of the story as soon as your lawyer is present. With your attorney, you don’t need to provide a statement at that moment. You can sit down with the police the following day with your attorney present and provide your statement.
This allows you to not be irrational and emotional with your response and statement. You have that time to calm down, speak with your lawyer, and write down the events so that you can present it to the police.
The best thing you can do when police arrive is exercise your 5th Amendment right and remain silent at that moment. The worst thing you can do is run your mouth. Wes Watson needs to learn to shut the fuck up. Plain and simple. He ran his mouth, incriminating himself, and made things worse for himself.
Then, in the video of him being arrested and taken to the police station, he said he should have “killed him.” Is that something that the officer in the vehicle or the judge and jury in the courtroom want to hear? No. Wes Watson just made himself look even worse.
Additionally, he told the police he gets sick of the messages he gets and told people to “pull up” and fight him just to get them to shut up. So again, there’s the evidence the judge and jury would need to say he’s guilty of assault, battery, and whatever other charges they want to throw at him.
Wes Watson is going to need a great lawyer and spend a fortune to get himself out of this, in my opinion. The deck is stacked against him, and I don’t see any way that he’s getting out of this.