Threatened
 

So I was threatened at a men's league game this week.

Player came at me and said, "I'm going to get you!" He had to be physically restrained. I almost said "do it and you'll go to jail". lol

I asked for his name so that I can file a police report, but I don't believe he's actually going to come and find me. Still debating if I'm going to file.

Fwiw, my partner and I had 8 T's over two games with 2 ejections. I've already blacklisted the league for the rest of the season.

I've officiated two other leagues where the league was told to "shape up" or the officiating group would "remove out services". In those cases, I'd never been on the receiving end of a tirade, so I couldn't relate. I don't think that this league will "get to that stage", but now I know how these things progress.

My advice, FWIW:

1. File the police report. Why leave the mess for the next guy?

2. Don't work men's wreck ball. :)

I agree with maven on both points. I once had 2 guys follow me out of a guy and threaten me after I called a game because of that type on nonsense. Those guys are usually hopeless. Either have beens or neverwere's. They usually "prey" on young / new guys that they can try to intimidate.

Definitely file a report. I looks much more severe and premeditated if something does happen. Unfortunately, been there, done that.

-Josh

So they were pretty mild games. :rolleyes:

I think you should get the guys name, look up his address and then put a deflated basketball on his porch at night with a note that says, "NEXT TIME, THIS IS YOU". Be sure not to leave any fingerprints. :cool:

Seriously, you definitely should file. If you let guys get away with stuff like that you're promoting an escalation of this behavior.

Exhibit "A" why I no longer do wreck games of any kind. Was rushed by an "adult" player years ago (didn't know it happened, wife told me afterward) and followed out to my car once. That was enough for me to stop doing them anymore. Hats off to the folks that still can.

I stopped doing wreck leagues when I turned 25, after doing them for 3 years. Not worth it. The few bad apples ruin it for everyone all the time.

Like many here, I've had the opportunity to work wreck league. I've always declined. It's just not worth it.

I did one year of adult wreck... not doing it again (and I didn't even have anything close to the bad experiences I see here).

I've done kiddie wreck ball for 3 years, with only a few bad memories. I probably won't do much of it this year though... mainly because my schedule is a bit different and I don't have as much time for games this year as I did last year.

FWIW - Don't ask me why, but even after hearing the horror stories of Men's Leagues here on the Forum, I ventured into it for the first time this season. No issues in any of the 6 games I worked. Tough games though. Good experienced partners helped.

Maybe I was just fortunate........

You should file for no other reason than the paper trail. It gives the officiating association/group something to back up their stance on should they decide to pull out due to too many problems.

Coming from the law enforcement side of the argument I'm not sure how much of a valid complaint you have if there is only one excited utterance of a threat without any other factors being present.

I know our DA would no complaint this in a heartbeat.

In most cases you need to have a valid fear of danger to life or property and it has to be repeated and the complainant needs to advise the other party of their dissent in a verbal disagreement.

Physical attacks are a different matter but it does not sound like there was any contact.

I would file a written complaint with your association and the commissioner of the league but that's really as far as it can go.

He had to be physically restrained.

I'm filing a report and letting the LEOs make the decision from there.

I do love American law. Until someone actually does something, not much can be done to stop them. Always found it funny that until someone actually clubs you over the head you just have to wait for it to happen. Which brings up the philosophical question of until someone actually commits the act should they get in trouble (Minority Report)?

And it does make sense to me it's just such a catch22 for those that are involved in such situations.

Associating it back to basketball ... should you call a foul on a player before the foul is committed?

He might. Probably would.

However, follow the sequence with an actual fight 2 days later. File no complaint, and you just have a fight. File a complaint and you have premeditation.

Also - if you file a complaint, the police are likely to at least talk to him ... you might be saving the next official from having a similar situation. Or if they get repeated complaints on the same guy...

Report it.

The potential severity of what may happen are 2 different things, but yes the underlying idea is the same.

IANAL nor a LEO, but I think the correct analogy would be:

Would you call a foul before contact? And, the answer is yes, if it's a non-contact T.

In the other case, the threat *can* be a crime.

I agree. I was only focusing on the "until someone actually does something" part of the statement.

A physical threat can be considered assault, especially if there's a legitimate reason to believe it. He had to be physically restrained by other players. I believe it.

Edit: I'm not a lawyer, but that's my understanding. Either way, no harm comes from filing.

Adam, 'assault' is defined by state law, and can vary from state to state.

In my state, a threat can constitute assault if certain conditions are met.

Which is why I said "can", like most criminal terms, it varies by jurisdiction.

As for the juggler's jurisdiction, I have no idea what the Canadian ruling is.