Thursday night, a 20-year-old UF student was arrested on charges of a felony battery after allegedly throwing a broken metal basketball rim over a privacy fence.
The incident happened Oct. 4 when the student, Samuel Gold, was attending a football tailgate for the UF vs. Texas game at Delta Sigma Phi’s fraternity house, according to the arrest report.
The rim, which weighed about 11 pounds, hit someone tailgating in Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity’s backyard next door, the report said.
The force of the rim left a gash on the victim’s head, leading emergency services to be called. The person was taken to Shands Hospital, where they received seven staples to close the gash, according to the report.
Gold told police he was intoxicated at the time and threw the rim after a fraternity brother suggested he do so.
He said he didn’t know it hit anyone, according to the report.
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
