quote:PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.
Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play, police said.
"The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."
Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
He was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
The alleged assault happened June 27 in North Union Township, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, authorities said.
The boy's mother asked state police to investigate her son's injuries because she suspected Downs wanted to keep the boy off the field, despite a league rule that required each player to participate in three innings a game, Broadwater said.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs had two daughters on the T-ball team.
League organizers investigated accusations against Downs before the T-ball season ended earlier this month but could not prove that he did anything wrong. If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year, Forsythe said. The league is not affiliated with Little League International.
I hope this sick b@$t@rd is never allowed to coach kids again. It's a kid's game, fer Chrissakes! Bad enough when a parent crosses the line, but this is out and out criminal. Is this guy's self-esteem THAT wrapped up in how his team finishes in T-Ball? That kid could've been seriously hurt, and all he wanted was what any of the other kids wanted-- to play. So stick him behind the plate as "catcher" for three innings.
Man.
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sick F*%K. They should beat him with a baseball bat until he is roughly in the same shape as the kid.
It's bad enought that society thinks its funny to make fun of the handicapped, using words like "retard" as a social appellation, but to pay to have one injured for a FU&^%ing GAME!?
Put this bastard outta the worlds misery and make sure he doesn't contribute to the gene pool.
-------------------- Damn you, you kids! Get off my lawn or I'm callin' tha cops!
However, i do have to say that while i find this incident disturbing, i only find it mildly surprising. Things like this occur on a relatively frequent basis in western society. As for the guy who done this, he should be drawn and quartered, but will probally only get a slap on the wrist.
From: Fort McMurray | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
This competitiveness in kids' sports ruins it for kids. Many kids reject team sports because they're just not fun with sicko coaches running around. The purpose of playing a sport as a chld should be for enjoyment and to develop a love for physical activity. It should not be to humiliate those children less cabable than others. If convicted, this guy needs to be put away. I hope that little boy will be ok.
Caliente, I grew up in the 50's and 60's and believe me, the problems existed back then too.
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Semi, up here in Canada you see it a lot in hockey arenas. Parents trying to live through their kids. It's so bad the Canadian Hockey Association decided that they would launch a televsion campaign against parents' bad behaviour.
posted
That's what I remember - playing hockey as a kid. I was lousy and it was pure hell for me. It got so that instead of going to the games, I would ride around on the bus until it was over and then go home and pretend to my father that I had gone. I still hate hockey to this day. I guess that makes me a bad Canadian.
Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
The best organized hockey ever was the intramural league the year I was in Grad School. Our class of 74 average age 31 versus these undergraduate teams aged 18 from a class of 2000 kids.
My two memories is our team not being able to score a goal against a team that played against us without a goalie and our class President cracking his ribs in a game and getting hugged in an alumni ceremony the next day.
From: Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
that's nothing new. there are a lot of ignorant people out there! I have been through like that for almost 35 years! I have fought and fought and have proven that I could play better than some players on the team but they get to play before me!! You know why? The coaches were *ALWAYS* afraid that I am the "jinx" of the team causing them to lose a game! geez...no matter how much I knew the rules and strategies, I sat on the bench being humiliated and churned. I never played the whole game. Not easy to "educate" those ignorant people like the arrested coach.
Guys, if you wonder why I have been benched and could not play as "normal" players...it's because I am deaf and the coaches are not good in communicating with me (even through pen-and-paper method). The coaches wanted to use the voice and hear method.
I have been through the same thing as adult player - I just simply met the coach and discussed clearly and concisely on how to communicate better so the coach would have a better understanding and I would be able to play the whole game.
Above the news on arresting coach, he has certainly lost my respect and I hope that he goes to jail AND needs to do the community service for a long time.
From: Hayward, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[AHHHH!!!!]](graemlins/scream.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Disgusting]](graemlins/puke.gif)
