What's the call? . . . 911

[greymule]

I don't have the details yet, but I do know our umpire called 911.

As the players were warming up before the 6:30 start of a men's SP game (last night?), they saw, across the street, a teenage boy beating up a teenage girl. The story is that the boy was punching and kicking the screaming girl, and then he dragged her into the street by the hair. So the players broke it up, and somebody called the police.

The police arrived, but it turned out that the boy (age 15) is the girl's boyfriend, and she (undoubtedly fearing for her safety) would not provide any information. So after seeing to it that the young man and his girlfriend left the area, the police also left.

But in the second inning of the SP game, a car pulled up to the curb, and several people exited the vehicle and proceeded onto the field to attack the players who broke up the fight. I am told that one of the people who went after the players was the mother of the 15-year-old punk. One player was supposedly quite bloody, but the person who told me this story wasn't sure whether he had been cut with a knife or was bleeding from a punch to the face.

The ump, who carries his cell phone with him, called 911. The police were again dispatched to the field; I believe the game was ended . . . and that's all I know so far, except that the township says they're going to assign a police officer to the park every weekday evening while the games are going on.

(I admit that I'm curious to know how people who could fit into one vehicle could attack at least 20 young men who had loaded metal softball bats handy, but maybe I'll find out.)

[BoomerSooner]

That's a pretty crazy story. At first I was thinking gang violence type thing, but when you added that the kid's mother was invovled, I'm thinking what kind of gang is this? I'm suprised they didn't go after the umpire for calling 911.

I also thought of how such an attack could go down with just one car load of people. Even if they singled out 2-3 players that broke up the fight, what team is going to watch 2 or 3 of their fellow players take a beat down. I can see why they wouldn't have wanted to use their bats with potential legal concerns, but shear numbers should have helped. Although if I see a knife, I'm starting with a distance defense (putting some space in between me and the knife) followed by a distant attack (throwing softballs at the knife wielder), and finally if all else fails Batter Up!

This sounds like a scary situation.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

That's a pretty crazy story. At first I was thinking gang violence type thing, but when you added that the kid's mother was invovled, I'm thinking what kind of gang is this? I'm suprised they didn't go after the umpire for calling 911.

I also thought of how such an attack could go down with just one car load of people. Even if they singled out 2-3 players that broke up the fight, what team is going to watch 2 or 3 of their fellow players take a beat down. I can see why they wouldn't have wanted to use their bats with potential legal concerns, but shear numbers should have helped. Although if I see a knife, I'm starting with a distance defense (putting some space in between me and the knife) followed by a distant attack (throwing softballs at the knife wielder), and finally if all else fails Batter Up!

This sounds like a scary situation.

If the bats were legal, who cares? Deadly force is authorized. When defending a life, there are no legal concerns. A knife is a deadly weapon, and any response in kind is justified as long as it is only a response and continued action after a successful defense does not occur. That's where the police often get themselves into trouble. Once the person is down and disarmed, you don't continue to beat them.

Police may have been a bit shortsighted on the original call. The girl is a minor. They probably could have removed her from the scene and held her until a guardian/parent showed up.

[Chess Ref]

I was under the impression if you had witnesses to a crime you could arrest. I also believe in our left coast state that the victim has no say if an arrest is made in a sitch like this.

Something doesn't sound right. We have an assault-plenty of witnesses-and the cops are satsified if the hitter and the victim leave the area......That sounds a little 1970's to me.

[NCASAUmp]

Actually, not all states allow a citizen's arrest. North Carolina, unfortunately, is one of those states where it's not allowed by law.

Authorized deadly force (also known as justified self-defense) is also something that varies from state to state. In NC, there are 4 requirements for the use of deadly force, but since this is a softball forum, I'll not go into that unless asked. Though I will say that if a knife had been used on one of the players during the attack, deadly force (use of a baseball bat) would be authorized in NC if the assaulted individual had no retreat.

F'ed up situation, though. Sorry your ump had to endure that, greymule. I hope he's okay and not too shaken up over it.

Statement of the obvious: methinks this is good justification for a "game postponed due to uncontrollable circumstances."

[Chess Ref]

Heck nobody had to make a citizens arrest. the cops were there, the hitter and victim were there and what , about 20 witnesses.

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by Chess Ref

Heck nobody had to make a citizens arrest. the cops were there, the hitter and victim were there and what , about 20 witnesses.

Ahhh... when you said, "you could arrest," I thought you meant, "you, Joe Citizen."

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the assaulted players sued the police department over this crap. Doesn't sound like it was handled properly, and their failure to act resulted in the players' injuries.

[greymule]

I just talked to the umpire. He says that before the second (7:45) game of the evening, the players saw the kid beating the girl, separated the pair, and held the kid for the cops. However, the girl would not provide any information, so the cops said they could do nothing and let the kid go. The players insisted that there were many witnesses to the attack, but that didn't seem to matter.

The key is now that the kid went home and lied to his family that a bunch of guys had, out of the blue, jumped him as he walked innocently by the field (this is the version the kid's grandmother [not the mother] told the ump). So the family rounded up some guys and returned to the park. The group jumped over the outfield fence and began the attack, and both teams in fact did grab bats and entered what was apparently quite a melee. When the attackers learned that the police were on the way, they departed quickly.

So the police arrived to find players only, and one player was in fact bleeding heavily, but the ump isn't sure whether a knife was used. Incredibly, at least according to the ump, the police said that since they didn't see the attack, there was nothing they could do. The players had the option of pressing charges and letting the courts sort everything out. The fact that a hundred people saw the attack is apparently irrelevant.

The police also advised the players that they should not have interfered with the beating, since "a lot of these kids pack heat, and you could have gotten yourselves shot."

He says that while the police were questioning players, the punk rode by in a car, watching the scene. At this point, some players are pressing charges, and the attackers are also pressing charges against several players.

The ump—a long-time veteran who lives walking distance from the park—terminated the game.

There are three games at the park tonight, and we're short umpires. Any volunteers?

[Dakota]

Sounds like your local police need a new slogan. May I suggest...

"To protect (our backsides) and serve (BS)"

[JPRempe]

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags. If a man was raping a woman, but none of the police were around to see it, do they then let the alleged rapist go?

What a bunch of tools!

[greymule]

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags.

I figure the police don't like what happened any more than I do, but I suspect they know from experience that arresting the punk (or even the attackers) would be futile. I also suspect that they want to avoid causing trouble for their superiors, since it's practically a certainty that local activists would turn the incident into a political football.

Nobody dead. Leave well enough alone and hope it goes away. It's depressing, though, that the system has come to this.

[Dakota]

My suggested slogan fits better than even I anticipated!

[NCASAUmp]

This is one more reason why I carry my cell in my bag (not ball bag) to the field. Not only can I get the latest dopplar radar images over my area, I also know that at least one person can call 911 in case of emergency. Fortunately, I've only needed 911 services twice in 15 years (once for a nosebleed that would not stop or slow after a half hour, and another time when two players went after a fly ball and collided).

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by greymule

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags.

I figure the police don't like what happened any more than I do, but I suspect they know from experience that arresting the punk (or even the attackers) would be futile. I also suspect that they want to avoid causing trouble for their superiors, since it's practically a certainty that local activists would turn the incident into a political football.

Nobody dead. Leave well enough alone and hope it goes away. It's depressing, though, that the system has come to this.

RANT ON
Well at least nobody dead in front of them. Some of the attitudes expressed concern me. Around here not arresting a hitter would be cause for uproar. putting aside the ages of those involved, this is a classic old school approach to domestic violence.

Wow not cause problems for their superiors, ugh are they guardians of justice , our streets and the american way or Dick Cheney's admin ?

having grown up around men and women in LE my expectations are so much HIGHER than some of the stuff greymule wrote about.

RANT OFF

[greymule]

I learned some more this evening by stopping by another field and talking both to the ump and to several of the players, who turn out to be guys I know. I also stopped by the park where the incident occurred.

1. The attackers did not get out of a car, as I had first been told. Some parked in a nearby lot, while some arrived on foot. They gathered out of sight and, on a signal from the grandmother, charged the field with a crude sort of precision, like a planned prison riot. There were about 20 attackers, but only about 8—the juveniles—did the actual fighting, while the older people watched. (I am told this is common, since juveniles are virtually immune from prosecution in New Jersey.)
2. The grandmother coordinated the attack. She entered the park first, identified the player who had led the supposed unprovoked assault on her grandson, then gave the signal to the people in the distance.
3. The attackers jumped the outfield fence and also entered through a gate. They entered the dugout and dragged the player out onto the field to beat him.
4. The guys I know are on the opposing team, and they were in the field at the time the attack began. They were dumbfounded that the victim's teammates didn't take immediate action. Apparently the team being attacked is a bunch of mild-mannered guys who couldn't immediately absorb what was happening to their buddy.
5. The guys on the opposing team soon charged the attackers and started beating on them. The guy who was bloodied told me it was a blindside punch, not a knife, that cut him. He has a black eye; the cut is healing.
6. At the arrival of a single police car, the attackers fled, but as they left, they warned the team they were fighting—the guys I know—that there would be retribution, that their fight was with the other team and these guys would pay for butting into their "business."
7. The cop exited the car and chased one attacker for a bit but then gave up. Then the players and the cop argued over the fact that the cop seemed to be doing nothing about the attack.
8. The cop is in some kind of mild trouble because he violated "regulations" by exiting his vehicle before backup arrived.
9. The team that has now been threatened has had all its remaining games moved to another field.
10. According to one person, the attackers are all members of a nationally known gang.
11. The police say that since they didn't see the attack, they can't make any arrests. It is up to the player who was attacked to press charges, line up witnesses, etc. Supposedly the player intends to pursue this avenue, but some are doubtful that he will follow through after he learns what doing so entails.
12. Before tonight's first game at the field where the incident occurred, the gang was forming in the schoolyard across the street. However, they dispersed when several police officers, with at least one dog, arrived.