Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

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With "LOD" Since 1997
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050715/ap_on_re_us/young_player_hurt

Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy By ALLISON SCHLESINGER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 13 minutes ago



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Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.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.
 
RE: Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

What an SOB! Time for him to get the baseball treatment. I'll be they're are plenty of pro pitchers that would line up for that job!
 
RE: Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

Emm... why would an 8 year old mentally challanged kid be selected by the coach anyways, yet be allowed to play?
 
RE: Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

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Emm... why would an 8 year old mentally challanged kid be selected by the coach anyways, yet be allowed to play?
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Max,
Just because he may be mentally challanged doesnt mean he isnt able to play sports such as t-ball. Everyvody has a right to tryout/play sports. He might not be the best player on the field, but he as long as his handicap doesn't interfer with him being able to preform the tasks needed to play he should be allowed to play. We aren't talking about a professonal sport here and even then if he was skilled enough to play at that level he should be able to play. We are talking about t-ball here.
 
RE: Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

Alright well, since the boy is mentally retarded he is probably worse at the sport than his teammates; otherwise I don't see why the coach would do whatever came to his idiotic mind. My point was that if the kid obviously is retard then it is probably not wise to let him play with a bunch of kids that probably will make fun of him since they were playing in some kind of competitive league, and kids are not fair or accepting and they definitely don't want to loose because of someone who is "different".
 
RE: Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy

Hopefully the punishment will fit the crime. Many kids sports have rules stating that everyone on the team gets to play. Protecting kids with disabilities is a lost cause. Life's difficult enough without misguided people trying to run your life. Should we try to protect short boys or tall girls or how about fat kids?
 
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