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Thu Mar 02, 2006, 05:07pm
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In mid February, there was an incident in my area of assault on an official with a disturbingly inept response by the league and the section. BV game. Team A, playing at home has just lost to team B. A1 is so frustrated that he picks up the basketball and fires it at an official as hard as he could throw it. Official never sees it coming, gets hit square in the face and collapses to the ground, momentarily blacking out. A crowd gathers around the 3 officials, which is scary to them at that point, as the potential for escalation was there, but the crowd was trying to help and ultimately the officials get escorted to the locker room.
In spite of felony laws prohibiting assault on officials, the player in question received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Because a certain box was not checked on a game report, the section only suspended the player for ONE GAME, the standard here for any ejection. The school, decided to double the suspension to TWO GAMES (it should also be noted that since Team A had already clinched its league title that both games were essentially meaningless). TWO GAMES with no further disciplinary action for assaulting an official when doing so to anyone else probably would've led to expulsion. What's worse is that the player is back now, playing with his team which is now in the section final and bound for the state tournament. Here is the response from the league commissioner: BVAL Commissioner Barbara Beard said she was satisfied with the punishment. ``The referee didn't send in an ejection notification, which would have resulted in a one-game suspension,'' Beard said. ``[School A] doubled that penalty. . . . I believe they handled the situation very professionally.'' In fact the ejection notification was sent in, but a box on it, despite a lengthy discription was left unchecked. To me, this is an outrage, and there is talk in our group of a possible boycott of School A's games next year. How would you feel about a boycott, and what actions would all of you take in a similar circumstance. By the way the section commissioner's name is Nancy Blaser and her e-mail is: [email protected] if you would like to send her an e-mail voicing your displeasure at this turn of events. 
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Thu Mar 02, 2006, 05:36pm
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Why wasn't an assault charge laid? That shoulda been automatic imo. It's certainly not too late to look into that course of action. At the very least, you might embarass BVAL into taking stronger action. Just make sure that news outlets get the story too.
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Thu Mar 02, 2006, 05:46pm
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The official can file the assault charge independent of the school and league. He should do so. There are obviously plenty of witnesses. In these situations, don't expect the school or league to "step up to the plate." As a former administrator, I would have done what I could to end the season for the kid!
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Thu Mar 02, 2006, 05:50pm
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The people involved (3 officials, and primarily the one hit) need to take IMMEDIATE action, including the following:
1. File a criminal assualt charge with the local police. 2. Look for an attorney to hire for a civil assault/personal injury suit against the player and depending on local laws, the player's parents or guardian. If you can't find one, take the case to small claims court. The amount of damages isn't as important as the process. 3. State association needs to be notified, if it hasn't already. I'm unclear from the post whether it has. We must take swift action anytime this happens. If you know the guy, make sure he follows through with all this, as those that ignore it put us all in jeapordy.
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Thu Mar 02, 2006, 06:02pm
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I agree with everything so far. Whenever a player is ejected from a game, the state's section office is notified in the form of the game report, which was submitted, so it's clear that the league and the state are both aware of the incident. In regards to whether charges were filed, I don't know.
Originally, I heard of the incident hours after it happened and had initially heard that the player was suspended for the rest of the year. I had the team in question a week after the incident, and the player was in street clothes on the bench (I was still taken aback by that even). Today I received an e-mail from the crew chief on the game in which the assault took place informing me of everything that transpired since. I am passing the news on to other officials, and hopefully something will come of this. BTW: The official who was hit is a former D2 official who is a onetime president of the local association and very well known and respected in the community. He is doing well. If this can happen to him, it can happen to any of us.
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Fri Mar 03, 2006, 01:38am
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Quote:
__________________
Sarchasm: the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient.
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Fri Mar 03, 2006, 05:58am
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There is no real press coverage of the situation, other than the blurb I quoted, although there may be soon, particularly if the right thing happens and the player gets suspended for the rest of the season.
I think a big thing is that it caught all of us by surprise, we all falsely assumed that the right thing was done and was being done, and it was a fairly easy issue to sweep under the rug, particularly since sectionals feature crews from neutral areas. Since the semifinal that the team played in featured a team from our area, this was the first time our group officiated this team since the "suspension" had been lifted, and it rung some alarm bells for us to see this kid on the court again, hence the delay in timing. Hopefully the press picks it up, which it will as the news spreads among officials. BTW: The school and the section tried to pawn this off as an "accident" despite numerous accounts through e-mails and game reports to the contrary. For all of us nationwide, the right thing needs to be done.
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Fri Mar 03, 2006, 06:25pm
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Quote:
__________________
Do you ever feel like your stuff strutted off without you?
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