'Boston Marathon Dad' Finds Controversy Again After Arrest
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Mike Rossi, the 'Boston Marathon Dad' who admonished his children's school last year for not excusing their absences to watch him run in the race and was then later accused of cheating to qualify for the marathon is embroiled in controversy yet again after being arrested at a Kenny Chesney concert and now stands accused of criminal trespass.
While talking to Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Philadelphia Magazine's Victor Fiorillo said Rossi refused to leave a parking lot when asked by concert security, to the point where he was taken into custody by police.
"He was, apparently, tailgating in Lot K, which I believe they opened at 10 in the morning that day. The ticket time for the concert was five o'clock. Right around five o'clock, it's unclear why, but according to the police, staff of Lincoln Financial Field asked him to get out or move from whatever he was doing, wherever he was in the lot and according to the police he refused. They kept asking him, again this is the security detail at the Linc, they're asking him to get out. He is saying no repeatedly, so they called the police. The police show up, and according to the police department, ask him several times to get out. He refuses them and, eventually, gets himself arrested for criminal trespass."
Fiorillo explained that all the publicity Rossi received from the letter he wrote led to greater scrutiny of his qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.
"Some people started to look at his race time and they accused him, not just one person or two people, but the online running community at large, which is a very active group of internet users, they went on different forums with photographic evidence, they analyzed the times and they accused him of cheating in the qualifying race that got him into the Boston Marathon. This blew up all over the place last year. He denied it. An online running site offered him $100,000, I think it's now up to $200,000 to run in that time again."
Fiorillo stated the former disc jockey in Philadelphia who also hosted the television show, Dancin' On Air, is still viewed with skepticism by the running community
"He certainly denies that he did it. It's within the realm of possibility that he could do it, but I've spoken with a lot of running coaches, running trainers, avid runners, people who run long distances every day and they looked at his times and thought there's no way this guy could do it. The only people who really know are God and Mike Rossi, but I think that it's pretty clear where the people who know about running land on this."