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Pickleball Paddle
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Pickleball Paddle
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Pickleball Paddle
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Photo: Rann Vijay / Pexels Pickleball Paddle
JUNE 19–During a post-game dispute between pickleball players, a Florida Woman repeatedly struck a male victim in the head with her paddle, leaving him bloodied and with an injury to his face, according to investigators who have charged the alleged assailant with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The May 31 incident occurred at the pickleball courts in Treaty Park in St. Augustine, a city about 40 miles from Jacksonville, and has resulted in the filing of a felony case against 
Michele Bannister, a 47-year-old nurse (seen at right).
According to court records, during one doubles game that Sunday, a dispute arose between players “about the retrieval of a ball.” Upon completion of the match, Ron Banat, 50, “went to speak with the defendant’s son regarding critique of his playing style.”
Banat, a Treaty Park regular, is a devoted pickleball player and a member of the Facebook “St. Augustine Pickleball” group.
Police say that during the course of the beef between Banat (pictured below) and her son, Bannister “interjected herself” into the argument and then “struck the victim in the head several times with a pickle ball paddle, leaving injury to his face that caused several cuts and a large amount of blood.”
When cops responded to the pickleball courts, Bannister allegedly provided them with a fake name (“Aiyanna Lei”). Bannister is a licensed nurse practitioner who lives two miles from Treaty Park in a home she purchased in 2019 for $228,000.
When questioned by police, Bannister claimed she was defending her son. However, officers reported “there did not appear based on 
victim and witness statements to be an imminent threat to life, limb, or a propensity of violence about to occur.”
Bannister has a Master’s degree from the University of Alabama and, prior to her nursing career, served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic. An online bio describes her as “an active mom who participates in many sports and activities with her children” and lists her favorite pursuits as “traveling, hiking, and playing beach volleyball and pickleball.”
After being arrested earlier this month, Bannister was named in a June 11 felony information charging her with aggravated battery and providing cops with a false name.
Free on $8000 bond, Bannister is scheduled for a July 28 pretrial hearing in Circuit Court. (3 pages)
