Assaulting coach back in the league

[outathm]

I have been on the road, will return home on tuesday. I have been working the phone lines with the umpires that are in Law Enforcement. Assault (which is what I have described here), of a person whom you know is a sports official is a class 4 felony. I have been told by one official that the assaulted person names the punishment, so to speak. If the official wants jail time the judge will give it. No matter what, the assaulter will have to check 'that box' on every job application he fills out.

Welsh is right though, the 'board' is an assigner with no contract. He has also bowed to the pressure from the league not to use an umpire because he 'calls too many rules' and is too serious. BTW, this is a Div I umpire that works a rec league so that he can give back to the people that gave him his start.

[bkbjones]

Was this ASA?
If it is, sounds to me like someone somewhere is turning a blind eye to the ASA Code. It's all very spelled out as to what must happen and, if any, punishment involved.
If it's ASA, it doesn't go to a one-person board/assignor. The Code is online and is very explicit about what has to happen.
As for the gutless, spineless assignor...

[greymule]

I have never been physically assaulted as an umpire, but I have been threatened several times and am all for prosecuting violence against officials. (The threats resulted in routine ejection suspensions, but nothing more.) During a basketball riot years ago, a referee friend of mine was attacked from behind (by a spectator) and knocked unconscious. He suffered some real trauma and had a civil case going for years, but I don't know how it turned out.

But some guy holds out a cell phone, and another guy slaps it out of his hand? I know the courts are unpredictable, but an assault conviction and jail time on that are unlikely. I doubt that you could even persuade a witnessing cop to make an arrest.

At a preseason league meeting in Trenton, New Jersey, a SP manager cold-cocked the recreation director after the director announced that parking of cars would not be permitted behind the snack bar. This occurred in county offices. No arrest, no charges, even though the assailant was a convicted felon. Punishment? Banishment from the park for three years, so the manager had to watch games from his lawn chair in the parking lot. (I guess the parking lot wasn't considered part of the park.)

One guy I knew was banned for five years for slugging an umpire during a game. But no actual charges. In one riot in the 1970s, a guy who hit an ump was sent back to jail for violating his probation, but not for hitting the ump. The attack on the umpire revealed that he had been out after 9 o'clock.

The guy who punched the recreation director used to brag to me that he had a $100,000 infield: First base, $25,000 bail; shortstop, $15,000 bail, etc.

Over the past several decades, I've seen some disgraceful violence toward softball officials, but I can't remember anything ever ending up in court. But of course I lived in New Jersey, so I admit that my experience is not particularly relevant for the rest of the country.

I thought I had escaped this by moving to Alabama, but the New Jersey courts recently caught up with me and asked for a deposition about a 2007 attack by one SP player on his teammate.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by greymule

...I thought I had escaped this by moving to Alabama, but the New Jersey courts recently caught up with me and asked for a deposition about a 2007 attack by one SP player on his teammate.

So, assaulting an official the let slide, but assaulting a teammate, that they prosecute?

[IRISHMAFIA]

To begin, I abhor "specialty" laws. An assault on a woman or child should not be considered any more contemptible than that of a man. An assault on an authority figure should not be handled any different than an attack of a common citizen. An assault on a sports official shouldn't be any different than someone who is attacked by a neighbor for playing their music too loud.

The problem is that those who tout themselves as the defenders of justice carry a varied set of values based upon their individual moral and social perceptions and not the equality we are all supposed to be blindly applied.

The only reason there are specialty laws for sports officials is because you have lawyers and judges who ignore the constitution, the Bill of Rights and all associated laws of protection because someone has sold them on the belief that a sporting event is a high-stress, high-tension exercise for the participants and fans and a valid excuse to lose control of oneself. BULL$HIT! If that were a fact, we should all be allowed to take a bat to a fielder's head when they make an error that takes the game into extra innings.

Of course, this is an absurd statement and obviously would not be considered an acceptable excuse because we are the arbiters who are supposed to have the "tough skin" and deaf ears. Well, BULL$HIT, again.

But let a student bring cakes and cupcakes to school accompanied with a cake knife.....put the school into lock down, take the student into custody and call out the National Guard!

This country's justice system is just way out of control!

[greymule]

So, assaulting an official they let slide, but assaulting a teammate, that they prosecute?

Only because the victim pressed charges. I don't know whether or not there was an actual conviction, but the judge did ban the assailant from any park where that league was playing a game. Although the prosecutor did contact me for my version of the incident, this recent deposition was for a civil suit that the victim has filed. Apparently the assailant continues to harass his former teammate, insults him, threatens to get him, etc.

A few years ago, a gang of Crips executed a coordinated invasion of a Trenton slow-pitch game with the intent to attack a particular player. There was quite a fight, and though the players actually got the best of it, several suffered minor injuries. The police arrived (eventually) but, because they hadn't "actually witnessed" the attack, refused to make any arrests, even though several guys had obvious injuries. In fact, with nobody dead, the authorities pursued the matter no further except that they put two cops in the park the next night. (Lesson: If you ever see an inner-city youth beating a girl bloody, ignore it.)

I will add my voice to those opposed to creating special classes of victims, especially based on their supposed historical "victimhood." Whatever happened to equal protection of the laws? Still, I would allow that people performing official (or officials') duties might constitute a special case.

A few years ago, my son's high school was put on "lockdown" and a SWAT unit dispatched because somebody found in the trash can outside the building . . . hold on, you're not going to believe this . . . a cardboard box that had once contained, according the label, a spring-loaded BB pistol. I mean, that thing will put a hole in a piece of paper at five yards! They eventually let the kids go home, but I'll tell you, it was weeks before I dared venture outside.

I'm not surprised they prosecuted a player for attacking a teammate. A buddy of mine got put on probation for hitting a guy during a bench-clearing brawl during a men's rec league game years ago, and the other guy also got probation for slugging my buddy. Since the cops could not determine who started the fight, and who hit who first, the arrested my buddy and the other player because they both had admitted to hitting each other and left physical evidence on each other.