I. Three whistle crew.

A. You are L. A1 dribbling along the endline right in front of you. B1 is defending A1 tight...B1 slaps at the ball and bang, the ball goes OOB right in front of you.
B1 made contact with A1's arm slightly, but enough to make A1 lose the ball. The ball grazed A1's ankle right before it went OOB.
Watta ya got?

B. Same scenario...this time your partner who was T comes in with some help. He says, "Did you see the ball hit the dribbler's ankle?"
Watta ya do? (FWIW, you are the R)

Its a no brainer (that is why I am a sports official, no brains): Common foul on B1.

MTD, Sr.

Yup, hit the whistle
 

for a foul on B1. He/she altered A1's ability to make a play i.e. B1 caused the ball to go OOB.

I am not sure based on your post if those answers helped you much.

IMO it kind of depends on how much time has elapsed and whether or not you can come in with a late foul. If you can go get the late foul then do so.

If you so choose to pass on the contact then I think you would need to give the ball to B.

If you had the open hand you may want to just go ahead and make a fist and get the foul.

If the contact was obvious OR if the ball obviously went off A, then you have to call the foul.

If nobody saw the swipe on the arm AND if nobody saw the ball "brush" A's ankle, then OOB to A.

I agree with Chuck
 

I agree with Chuck whole heartedly...and if B's coach happened to see the ball go off of A's ankle, all you have to do is mention that he could have had a foul, and they will usually mind their own business so to speak...

Finally, the correct answer.

Did the contact REALLY not contribute to the ball dislodging and going off the ankle? Were the two incidents separated in time at all? I think maybe you had a foul but impossible to tell without video.

But, if you didn't have a foul originally because as you said the contact didn't cause what later happened, then you still don't have a foul. In that case, I'd not be afraid of my partner's advice. You have an OOB situation and he had a better angle and/or clearly saw something you did not.

At any rate, I'm personally not comfortable making calls or passing on calls based on who I think saw or didn't see things. I have enough trouble knowing what I saw to worry about others!

Agree with Mark. You said it was enough to lose the ball, so it is a foul. I am not buying into a "delay" here. You call it now for the foul. Forget about who it touched last.

I've practiced Chuck's logic frequently
 

By rule it's a foul, but I'd prefer to keep on truckin'.

I used to call that foul a lot, but more veteran officials have told me to just give it to A OOB. And like CMathews said, if anyone of significance complains (B1 or the coach), I very quietly mention that I had the foul first and chose to pass on it and keep the game moving.

This call is questioned roughly 10% of the time from my scientific analysis.

If my partner said anything, I'd reply the same way as to the coach or B1.

Totally depends on the level, intensity and mood of the game. Some games I might call that a foul. Some games I might just give the ball to team A. Depends on what the game needs at that time.

Z

Absoluuuutely.

There are plenty of times where there "could be" a foul called where it's just easier and better for the flow of the game to give the team the ball out of bounds. If you can get away with it here, do it.