Assault Archives
2005
FOOTBALL — Three New Castle, Pa., coaches won’t be coaching in the Tri-County Youth Football League anymore. Fred Smith, 33, Corey Eggleston, 35, and Nelek Mitchell, 30, were banned for life from the league after being arrested following a youth game Sept. 24, 2005. The coaches allegedly cursed the unnamed game referees, incited the crowd and resisted police attempts to calm the disturbance.
Late in the youth football game between the New Castle Hurricanes and the Laurel Spartans, with the Spartans leading, 26-0, a Hurricane touchdown by Eggleston’s son was negated because of a penalty flag. Eggleston allegedly came onto the field and cursed the referees. Smith ran onto the field to argue as well. That’s when the game officials ended the contest with six minutes remaining. However, as the officials were leaving, some balls were reportedly thrown at the referees. Fans continued to taunt the officials as well, according to videotape of the game.BASKETBALL – A parent who came out of the stands during a Pittsburgh high school basketball game and body-slammed the referee will not serve jail time.
Peter Dukovich was convicted of simple assault Jan. 13, 2005, by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John Zottola. Dukovich was also acquitted of three other charges, including assault on a sports official.
Pennsylvania has a special law in place providing that assaults on sports officials are treated as first-degree misdemeanors and the assaulter is subject to stiffer penalties than other assaults.
Zottola said Dukovich, 48, had lived an exemplary life until his confrontation with referee Ron Bell during a Feb. 6, 2004, game. Nothing would be gained by sending Dukovich to jail for an incident that was out of character with his history as a good parent and citizen, Zottola said.
In acquitting Dukovich, Zottola accepted the defense’s contention that he attacked Bell by mistake, not because he targeted the referee.
Pennsylvania law pertaining to assault of a sports official, Section 2712, defines what a sports official is but makes no mention of the intention of the assaulter.
Zottola also acquitted Dukovich of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. At his sentencing, Dukovich was fined $1,000. He must perform 200 hours of community service, pay restitution to Bell and serve two years’ probation. Additionally, Zottola told Dukovich he could not attend any sporting event – from grade-schoolers to professionals – for a year.
Zottola said if the restitution, about $1,600, is paid within six months, Dukovich’s fine will be waived.
Dukovich, a 300-pound pipefitter, said he never would have laid a hand on the 160-pound Bell had he realized he was a referee. Dukovich moved from the bleachers onto the court after a Deer Lakes player punched and kicked his son, Hampton forward Tim Dukovich.
Peter Dukovich’s wife, RaeLynn, also went to courtside, where she cursed and berated Bell for grabbing her son while breaking up the players. Bell said he touched no one, but he intended to eject RaeLynn Dukovich from the gym because of her foul mouth and refusal to leave the playing floor.
About that time, Peter Dukovich said he caught a glimpse of Bell "poking and pushing" his wife.Dukovich said he instinctively went after Bell, 58, to protect her from what he thought was an attacker, not a referee in a striped shirt.
Dukovich said he grabbed Bell around the waist and tossed him aside. Bell, though, said the assault was much more violent. He testified Dukovich punched him in the chest and body-slammed him, driving his right shoulder and the right side of his head into the wood floor.
FOOTBALL – A father from Reading, Pa., who punched a football referee because of a call involving the man’s son during a youth game for five- to eight-year-olds was sentenced to one year of probation July 19, 2005. Andrew McElroy, 27, was also fined $500 in Berks County Court and ordered to donate another $500 to the Muhlenberg Township Athletic Association. McElroy was sentenced for assaulting Frank Koharcheck, 39, of Muhlenberg in the altercation that occurred in the summer of 2004. McElroy was convicted in May of assaulting a sports official and simple assault. Koharcheck told the judge he wasn’t hurt, but that he no longer trusts parents who approach him at games.
2001
FOOTBALL – Writing a letter of apology was only part of the sentence handed to a Forty Fort, Pa., man who pleaded guilty Oct. 30, 2001, after assaulting a high school referee. Robert Lynn was also ordered to enter the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program, attend anger management classes, complete 75 hours of community service, pay $25 restitution for the referee’s check-up at a hospital and exhibit good behavior at high school sporting events. Lynn placed his hands on the chest and near the neck of 13-year referee Robert Eble during a Sept. 27, 2000, match involving Lynn’s son. Lynn then pushed Eble to the ground.
ICE HOCKEY - During an adult ice hockey game the referee's nose is broken when a player comes off the bench and strikes the official with the butt-end of his hockey stick. (April 2001)
BASKETBALL - The Catholic Diocese of Erie locks out all parents and fans from a 5th and 6th graders basketball game due to a previous incident between the two teams involving racial slurs directed at a game official. (February 2001) WRESTLING - A parent is criminally charged for biting a coach and shoving the official when he attacks the two after his seven-year-old son loses a pee wee wrestling match. (February 2001)
SOCCER - Robert Lynn, a parent for a high school player from Bishop O'Reilly High School, charges on to the soccer field and shoves official Robert Eble. Nearly a year later Lynn pleads guilty in Luzerne County Courthouse. His sentence includes an anger management classes, restitution for the officials hospital visit, 12-months probation, a letter of apology and 75 hours of community service. (September 2000/October 2001)
2000
BASEBALL - A former police officer was convicted of soliciting assault for giving a 10-year-old Little League pitcher $2 to hit another youngster with a fastball. (May 2000)
1999
WRESTLING ? A 41-year-old single dad and wrestling coach was sentenced to up to a year in prison for punching a referee after his 11-year-old son lost a match. The jail term was designed, according to the presiding judge, to "send a clear message" to other parents. (May 1999)
WRESTLING - Joseph Chambers, of Sicklerville, N.J., was found guilty May 5 of assaulting referee Rich Vees, 22, during a novice clubs wrestling tournament at Council Rock High School in January of 1999. Chambers was found guilty on charges of assaulting a sports official, simple assault and disorderly conduct, and sentenced him to two to 12 months in county prison. (Jan 1999)
Chambers was arrested on Jan. 9 after his 11-year-old son lost a close match in sudden death overtime. Chambers reacted, police say, by screaming obscenities and charging across the gym to confront Vees, who was one of eight referees officiating at the daylong tournament.
Judge Barry McAndrews said, "At any sports event, and maybe especially at wrestling, there is a lot of emotion and tension. But the one thing you don't do is run across the mat and slug the referee," McAndrews told Chambers. "These officials should not have to worry about being targets."
When Chambers' attorney, Gavin Lentz, asked the judge to consider a sentence of probation, McAndrews refused and said he had a message to send to other parents. "In this culture of violence, we wring our hands when something goes wrong ... and sometimes someone ends up hurt or even dead. What Mr. Chambers did was wrong, and it set a very bad example for his son and all the other children who were there."
1998
BASKETBALL - By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer: Long after the final whistle blew at a high school basketball game, in Pittsburgh, PA., authorities made one last call: They charged a couple with assaulting a referee. "The confrontation was because the parents believed the referee was picking on their son," said a Bethel Park police Detective. The couple of West Mifflin, are being cited under a largely unknown, 5-year-old state law aimed at curbing violence against sports officials. The father, said yesterday that there was no violence Friday night, only bad officiating. His 16-year-old son, a 6-foot-4-inch junior and a starter for West Mifflin, was called for his fifth foul, which eliminated him from the game early in the fourth quarter. "I wanted to go down (after the game) and tell the ref how I thought he did, that it was probably one of the most poorly officiated games I've ever seen," the father said. "They let that game get out of control. From the first quarter it was a lost cause." According to police reports, witnesses first saw the mother take a swing at the referee. Then the husband edged his wife out of the way and took a shot at the referee, police said. No injuries were reported. Police did not say whether either landed any blows. (12/10/98)
1997
BASKETBALL - A basketball star at Philadelphia's Murrell Dobbins Tech, received two technical fouls and was ejected from a high school basketball game. After this the player punched the referee. The player was charged with aggravated assault, a felony, along with simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person. (1/9/97)
1995
BASKETBALL - In Philadelphia, a basketball referee was beaten by a coach and fans after a game involving 12-yr-olds. The referee sustained a concussion, a fracture near his eye and ligament damage in his right shoulder in the attack. The ref said players taunted him and laughed while the beating was taking place. (2/11/95)
1988
SOFTBALL - A softball umpire of Allentown reached an out-of-court settlement with a player in connection with an incident during a 1988 game. Nelson had filed a civil suit against the player, saying he had sucker-punched him following the game. (1988)
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