Quote:
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Originally Posted by SAump
I hope that whenever I make a mistake, I can find a lawyer that can sell as bad an argument to the jury as well as most of you have here.
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I'll take this umpire's case. Sorry, SAump...I think you're wrong.
What does this video show?
(1) A coach arguing balls and strikes (and leaving his position to do so)...which every umpire, coach and player from little league to MLB knows is the quickest way to an automatic ejection.
(2) An umpire ejecting the coach AND turning his back on the aggressor (the coach) and walking away.
(3) The coach physically grabbing the umpire and turning him around. The umpire points at him (and likely, I submit based upon my umpire training, tells the coach "that's a bump" or something of that nature).
(4) The
coach takes several steps directly TOWARD the umpire and makes contact with the umpire. THE COACH INITIATES THIS ADDITIONAL CONTACT. The coach's face clearly touches the umpires' mask and he goes chest-to-chest with the umpire. At about the same time the coach quickly brings up both of hands to his chest level, suggesting to a reasonable person that he might be getting ready to push the umpire. THIS ALL HAPPENS BEFORE THE "HEAD-BUTT" THAT SOME ON THIS THREAD HAVE SUGGESTED THE UMPIRE COMMITTED.
(5) At this point, there has been NO SEPARATION between the umpire and coach [Again, the COACH initiated this contact (as described in #4.)]
(6) Then, within a second or two of the coach initiating contact (as described in #4), the umpire's head moves toward the coach. I think there is a very strong argument that can be made that this is nothing more than the head's natural movement when the umpire was yelling at the coach.
BUT EVEN IF THIS WAS AN INTENTIONAL HEAD-BUTT: If I was defending the umpire in some lawsuit that arose as a result of this incident, I'd have a great defense to any claim the coach has arising out of the head-butt. Basically the law says a person can use force in self-defense and such force extends to the use of all reasonable force to prevent any threatened harmful or offensive bodily contact...whether that contact is intentional or negligent.
Again, Coach grabs umpire, coach then steps offensively toward umpire (who again was walking away after the ejection) and contacts the umpire. Furthermore, the coach brings his hands up to chest level in a threatening manner. With a second or two of these actions, the umpire MAY have head-butted the coach. Even if it was a head-butt, this action was clearly "reasonable force" to meet the threat the coach was posing with his contact and threatened contact.
(7) The coach then takes his right hand and pushes the umpire's head after the perceived head butt.
How anyone can suggest that the umpire is the aggressor here is beyond me. Again, he (1) walked away after the ejection. (2) The COACH grabbed the umpire. (3) The COACH after turning the umpire around walked directly AT the umpire AND initiated contact with him. The COACH's face and chest clearly make contact with the umpire. (4) The COACH then raises his hands. (5) Within seconds the UMPIRE either starts yelling at the coach and his natural movements cause contact between his mask and the Coach's head OR he head butts the coach...which I submit is reasonable force to meet the threat posed by the Coach.