Fan attacks referee

[eyezen]

The referee involved is in our association although these schools involved are outside our assoc.'s area...hits close to home, I'm working at the school (NH) this Sat!

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=33071&rfi=6

[Bad Zebra]

Sad and unfortunate, but not that uncommon any more. My only question is why the assaulted official didn't press charges immediately.

[williebfree]

I too am perplexed by the official's reluctance to press charges, must be unidentified circumstances.

I am glad to see the school is pushing it forward.

[grunewar]

Hmm, I'm gonna watch this board a little bit closer now......not sure if I wanna ref with you guys who give out all them thar technicals.....as your partner I might get beat up!

How dumb is this! Sheesh!! Hope he rots in jail for assault and battery!

[truerookie]

Wow, this is right up the street from me about 45 minutes.

I've written the state about this matter: My letter to the state:

My name Truerookie (changed to protect my identity) and I am a certified
official with the state of Missouri. I have a concern.
Why official(s) are NOT protected against assaults which
may occur doing the performance of our duties? Is
there a way we can get assaults against an official
on the books in the state. There are 19 states that
have laws against an assault on an official and
Missouri is not one of them. I find this discouraging
do to the nature of our job and the emotions which
takes place during the course of a contest. I would
like to see this enacted as a law in the state because
we never know what may occur (with emotions and all).
I hope we can come to a suitable solution. Thank you!

The states reply to my letter:

Assault of officials is very definitely a concern. Legislation has
been proposed and heard in committee several times over the past 8 years but so far the legislation has not come out of committee. That doesn't
mean that we will stop trying. The comment from the committees has been
that there is legislation against assault on the books and thus protection
for anyone assaulted. The question has always been why do officials
need greater protection against assault then any other citizen? I
would suggest that you write your representatives and senators with your
concern and especially address the above question in your letter. Just
for your information, your statistics are outdated as there are now 20
states that have passed legislation.

Thank you for taking time to share your concern. The MSHSAA agrees
with you that this is a serious concern and will continue to work towards
passage of such legislation.

Hopefully, it will pass after this incident.

[stosh]

Meramec Valley School District officials say they will take a strong stand against a New Haven man who assaulted a referee during a boys basketball game Friday night at Pacific High School.


The game was between Pacific and New Haven High School. With approximately two minutes left in the game, one referee called a technical against a New Haven coach, according to school officials.


Another referee, Joe Poliak, was standing on the sideline at the time of the call. A man came out of the crowd and hit Poliak, officials said. Poliak was not the referee who made the call.

Does this mean if he hit the official who made the foul call it would better justify the action?

The man was immediately removed from the gym and police were called, according to Superintendent Randy George.

Why is the referee mentioned by name, but the assailant is not?

Poliak declined to immediately press charges, but he still has the option of signing a complaint against the attacker, according to George.

The school district intends to press charges independently, he said.

"There is no place for this type of activity in high school sports," George said. "There is no place for this in any type of extracurricular activity."

George said he has consulted with the New Haven superintendent and with the Missouri High School Athletic Association.

"We intend to pursue this to the fullest extent available to us," George told The Missourian

[jdw3018]

No need to find a conspiracy in this article, Stosh. Stating that Poliak was not the official who made the call is simply fact and gives some perspective on how the attack happened.

On your other point, it's entirely possible this man wasn't formally arrested last night and the paper couldn't get a confirmation on the man's name. Or, perhaps the paper has a policy not to use names until the assailant is charged. Who knows?

And I don't know the intent of your post, but I see too many people trying to create conspiracies where there is no reason.

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

And I don't know the intent of your post, but I see too many people trying to create conspiracies where there is no reason.

I like Fox Moulder better than you.

[stosh]

Conspiracy? You may have something there.

Interesting take.

My take is that whether he called the foul or not, it had nothing to do with getting attacked.

I just think responsible reporting would do more to protect the identity of the referee rather than the assailant.

[Bearfanmike20]

Question...

Scenario:

Stupid fan comes out to hit you... you defend yourself... he gets hurt..

is that a problem??..

[ace]

Originally Posted by Bearfanmike20

Question...

Scenario:

Stupid fan comes out to hit you... you defend yourself... he gets hurt..

is that a problem??..

yes "because we're supposed to be above that kind of crap" (from someone in a nother thread.

This is ridiculous... Texas has laws protecting officials which means if an official presses charges right out of the box the guys got to pay some fine.

[jdw3018]

Not if you acted in legal self-defense. Self-defense laws don't differentiate between officials and non-officials, thankfully.

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by stosh

Conspiracy? You may have something there.

Interesting take.

My take is that whether he called the foul or not, it had nothing to do with getting attacked.

I just think responsible reporting would do more to protect the identity of the referee rather than the assailant.

Perhaps the official didn't care if his identity was protected? Maybe he gave them permission to use his name?

And as for writing it the way they did regarding the foul - it just paints the picture. There's nothing wrong or right about it, it's just a description of the events as they happened. As a fan of basketball in general, I can now picture in my head how this attack happened.

[Bearfanmike20]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

Not if you acted in legal self-defense. Self-defense laws don't differentiate between officials and non-officials, thankfully.

Yes... thats what I'm talking about...

Defending yourself and doing everything you can to not hurt them. That is proper self defense. You allow them to basically tire out and get frustrated from not acheiving their objective, but... sometimes in the corse of defending yourself in that manner.. people inevitably get hurt.

I just know that if someone took a swing at me... they would regret it. Not cause I want to hurt them but.. I cannot guarantee that I wouldn't react without thinking and hed end up on the floor.

Hence my question.

I'd like to think that I have more control in myself (self defense training), but you never know.

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by Bearfanmike20

Yes... thats what I'm talking about...

Defending yourself and doing everything you can to not hurt them. That is proper self defense. You allow them to basically tire out and get frustrated from not acheiving their objective, but... sometimes in the corse of defending yourself in that manner.. people inevitably get hurt.

I just know that if someone took a swing at me... they would regret it. Not cause I want to hurt them but.. I cannot guarantee that I wouldn't react without thinking and hed end up on the floor.

Hence my question.

I'd like to think that I have more control in myself (self defense training), but you never know.

If someone takes a swing at you, you can legally (in most cases) punch them back. What you can't do is continue to beat on them when you could safely get away. You also can't shoot someone who is going to punch you. But carrying heat in your sansabelts is hard to do anyway.

Basically, if someone gets hurt trying to attack you while you reasonably defend yourself, you have nothing to worry about legally.