Referee Hurt In Fight at Big Rapids (MI) HS

[knockitoff]

This game took place March 5, 2015:

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A referee was hurt Thursday during a fight at Big Rapids High School basketball game against Traverse City West.

Big Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Tim Haist says everything happened towards the end of the game Thursday night when two players, one from each team, got into a fight.

Then other teammates on both teams joined in and that’s when things got out of hand and at least one person, a referee, got hurt.

The daughter of the injured referee, who she identified as 57-year-old Jimmy Smith, tells 24 Hour News 8 he was trying to pull a Big Rapids player off of a Traverse City West player when other players on the Big Rapids team got off the bench and threw him to the ground.

Smith was able to get up and help control the crowd along with coaches and other parents. Smith’s daughter says he took himself to the hospital Friday with a hurt neck and knee.

Haist calls the incident unfortunate, saying they have not had to deal with it before. He said the students involved will be held accountable but said at this point he couldn’t say how.

The district, the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Mecosta County Sheriff’s Department are all investigating the incident.