San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer was caught on video trying to wrench a cellphone away from his wife, causing her to fall to the ground as she screamed for help.
In a 15-second video posted by TMZ, Baer and his wife can be seen in San Francisco Plaza on Friday morning when Baer lunges for a phone in his wife Pamela's hands.
Pamela can be heard screaming, "Oh my God, no, help!"
A second video shows Baer walking around the plaza saying, "Stop, Pam, stop," while Pamela can be heard in the background, "Oh my God. Oh my God.":
The man who recorded the video said the couple were having a "very emotional conversation" that turned into an argument. When the apparent assault happened, the bystander says he and several other men stepped up to help break it up.
A few hours after the video began to go viral, Baer told the San Francisco Chronicle that he and his wife had an "unfortunate public argument related to a family member & she had an injured foot and she fell off the chair in the course of the argument."
Pamela Baer released a statement of her own after the incident, writing:
"I would like to clarify the events of today. My husband and I had an argument in public about which we are quite embarrassed.
"I took his cellphone. He wanted it back and I did not want to give it back. I started to get up and the chair I was sitting in began to tip. Due to an injury I sustained in my foot three days ago, I lost my balance. I did not sustain any injury based on what happened today. Larry and I always have been and still are happily married."
Later Friday night, Larry released a second statement, apologizing specifically to his wife, children and the Giants organization. "It is not reflective of the kind of a person that I aspire to be, but it happened and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that I never behave in such an inappropriate manner again."
The MLB said they would investigate the incident and would not have any comment about it until it was complete.
Photo: Getty Images