SALT LAKE CITY – Olympic gold-medal skier Picabo Street is expected to appear in court Tuesday in Utah on misdemeanor domestic violence and assault charges.
Street is accused of throwing her 76-year-old father down stairs and locking him in a basement during a fight at her home near Park City.
Her lawyer contends that she was defending herself after her father attacked her on Dec. 23.
Defense attorney Joe Wrona has said he will demand a jury trial in the misdemeanor case and expects Street to be cleared.
Street, 44, told 911 dispatchers that she “put” her father Roland Street down the stairs after he pulled her hair and scratched her face, according to a recording of the call.
Her mother can be heard in the background disputing that version of what happened.
Prosecutors have said Picabo Street started the fight that left cuts on Roland Street’s elbow and neck.
He told police his daughter started yelling after he hit her house while trying to drive away in snowy weather, and the physical fight broke out after they went back inside.
He has not been charged.
Picabo Street remains free on bail and a pretrial conference was set for Tuesday.
Picabo Street is facing three counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in the presence of a child and one count of misdemeanor assault.
She had an illustrious skiing career highlighted by a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in the women’s super-G event.
She also won silver in the downhill at the 1994 Olympics.
