[greymule]

I learned some more this evening by stopping by another field and talking both to the ump and to several of the players, who turn out to be guys I know. I also stopped by the park where the incident occurred.

1. The attackers did not get out of a car, as I had first been told. Some parked in a nearby lot, while some arrived on foot. They gathered out of sight and, on a signal from the grandmother, charged the field with a crude sort of precision, like a planned prison riot. There were about 20 attackers, but only about 8—the juveniles—did the actual fighting, while the older people watched. (I am told this is common, since juveniles are virtually immune from prosecution in New Jersey.)
2. The grandmother coordinated the attack. She entered the park first, identified the player who had led the supposed unprovoked assault on her grandson, then gave the signal to the people in the distance.
3. The attackers jumped the outfield fence and also entered through a gate. They entered the dugout and dragged the player out onto the field to beat him.
4. The guys I know are on the opposing team, and they were in the field at the time the attack began. They were dumbfounded that the victim's teammates didn't take immediate action. Apparently the team being attacked is a bunch of mild-mannered guys who couldn't immediately absorb what was happening to their buddy.
5. The guys on the opposing team soon charged the attackers and started beating on them. The guy who was bloodied told me it was a blindside punch, not a knife, that cut him. He has a black eye; the cut is healing.
6. At the arrival of a single police car, the attackers fled, but as they left, they warned the team they were fighting—the guys I know—that there would be retribution, that their fight was with the other team and these guys would pay for butting into their "business."
7. The cop exited the car and chased one attacker for a bit but then gave up. Then the players and the cop argued over the fact that the cop seemed to be doing nothing about the attack.
8. The cop is in some kind of mild trouble because he violated "regulations" by exiting his vehicle before backup arrived.
9. The team that has now been threatened has had all its remaining games moved to another field.
10. According to one person, the attackers are all members of a nationally known gang.
11. The police say that since they didn't see the attack, they can't make any arrests. It is up to the player who was attacked to press charges, line up witnesses, etc. Supposedly the player intends to pursue this avenue, but some are doubtful that he will follow through after he learns what doing so entails.
12. Before tonight's first game at the field where the incident occurred, the gang was forming in the schoolyard across the street. However, they dispersed when several police officers, with at least one dog, arrived.