A California dad has “been called every name in the book” in an online debate after he reached over and intercepted a T-shirt headed right for a woman after it was thrown into the crowd at a rodeo.
He then handed the shirt to his daughter.
Real estate broker Marco Caracas grabbed the shirt, which seemed to be intended for a female spectator in the crowd at the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Rodeo on California’s Central Coast on Saturday, the California Post reported.
Caracas then took the shirt back to his daughter, who was seated three rows back in the bleachers. Then he returned to the woman and patted her on the shoulder as he pointed in his family’s direction.
The video spread online, where Caracas was painted into one of two portraits — a devoted dad or rude spectator setting a bad example for his daughter.
“Dad out here showing his daughter how little he respects women,” one wrote.
“He would have been eating his teeth patting my shoulder like that,” wrote one woman.
“U snooze u lose that’s how life works,” another person wrote in his defense.
“Personally, I see a man doing whatever to please his baby girl who cares what a stranger thinks,” another person wrote.
Caracas later defended himself on Instagram, saying in a video, “I went to the SLO County Sheriff Rodeo, caught a T-shirt that was thrown in the audience and I’ve been called every name in the book since then.”
“Now my question is, if that would have been a man standing next to me, would this have gone so wild?”
Interestingly, from an account apparently shared by Caracas and his wife — where the couple says they live a “Christ centered life”– they posted, “This ended with our daughter giving the shirt to the lady but man, the great lengths this man will go for his girls.”
However, one commentator still took Caracas to task.
“More like daughter set the bar real high, at least she had the decency to give it to the lady,” one woman wrote “She really didn’t look happy when her dad gave it to her, probably embarrassed.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.