PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players 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Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.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.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Now that is just sickening.
Tammy
That story reminds me of when I signed Jared up for coach-pitch (the next step up in our area). I had him in T-ball and with his ODD (newly DX'd then). Jared was so hard to manage didn't follow directions well and threw fits when he was got out.
I took the next year off so Jared could be worked with and have a chance to mature.
When I signed him up the following year they gladly took my money but... They sent me to the wrong fields for practess and refused to give us a uniform or the game schedule (because we didn't show up to practess). I would drive around looking for them and find the team finishing up!
I did report the coach but my answer was fees are nonrefundable. Everytime I bumped into them I would get this smug smile.
I think this coach was a disgrace to the game also. He was very competitive and having a dificult child might hurt his wins. I tried to explain to them that I wouldn't enroll Jared if we hadn't made great strides with him but this man was an idiot! When I hear about a coach that would have a disabled child harmed over a T-ball game it makes my stomach turn. I hope they throw the book at him. In my case I had a behavioral child who saw adults acting unfairly towards him. Great lesson for an oppisitional child who naturally thinks everyone is against him! I'm just glad this idiot isn't coaching anymore his son is to old so he passed the job on. Nelle
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