Assault Archives

2005

FOOTBALL – On Nov. 5, 2005, Bobby Lynn Starks, 38, Sebring, Fla., allegedly charged onto a football field at Fort Meade High School during a Pop Warner game, punching a referee in the face at least a half dozen times. Starks was charged with battery on a specified official, a third-degree felony, and was released the same day from Polk County Jail on $1,000 bond. Battery is a first-degree misdemeanor, but recently passed legislation increased the penalty for battery on a sports official to a third-degree felony. Starks could face up to five years in prison.

2003

SOFTBALL – Charles Mitchell, 35, of Boca Rotan, Fla., pleaded guilty Oct. 20, 2003, to attacking 75-year-old umpire Lester Barr at a March 2002 coed softball game. Mitchell does not have to serve any jail time, but he was sentenced to perform 250 hours of community service to aid the elderly or infirm. Originally, Mitchell was charged with aggravated battery on the elderly, a first-degree felony, and faced up to five years in prison if convicted.

The original attack happened after Mitchell was ejected from a March 17, 2002, game. Instead of exiting the field, Mitchell spat in Barr’s face, put him into a chokehold and wrestled him to the ground. Mitchell fled after players pried him off of Barr, who was unconscious. Barr, a 54-year veteran umpire, suffered a fractured kneecap and a shoulder injury, and he had to retire as a result of the attack.

SOCCER – Orange Park (Fla.) High School banned Tim Enright from all extra-curricular activities for a minimum of one year for confronting a referee during his son’s high school soccer game Jan. 22, 2003. The contest between Orange Park and Nease, both nationally ranked teams, was suspended with 13:25 remaining in the second half. When Enright’s son, Simon, was tripped up during the game and injured, Enright came onto the field to check on his son and then started yelling at veteran referee Aaron West, who had just issued a yellow card for the action. West suspended play and was escorted from the field, and Orange Park personnel restrained Enright.

2002

SOFTBALL – Les Barr, 74, was assaulted by a man 40 years his junior and significantly larger March 17, 2002, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Charles J. Mitchell, Boca Raton, faces a felony charge of assault of an elderly person. The charges stem from an incident in which Mitchell allegedly grabbed Barr and choked him into unconsciousness. Barr said the assault resulted in a fractured knee cap and the aggravation of an injury he suffered while serving in World War II. The injuries have kept Barr away from the ballfield. "I can’t run yet," he said.

2001

FOOTBALL – Trevor Harvey, the president of an anti-violence group for young people, was arrested and charged with battery for punching a referee during a Nov. 3, 2001, youth football game in Sarasota, Fla. Harvey, who was coaching his seven-year-old son’s flag football team at the time, received two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties before he eventually confronted referee Tony Kormansek, of Brandenton, on the field.

FOOTBALL - Treavor Harvey, a 34-year-old, 270-pound youth football coach punched referee Tony Kormansek because he thought the game of seven-year-olds was getting too rough. The coach had been penalized earlier in the game twice for unsportsmanlike behavior and had to be pulled off the referee after charging onto the field. "He was going crazy," Kormansek told a local Sarasota television station. "I didn't even get the time to spit out that he was ejected. He just came out swinging." (November 2001)