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.