Posted on 09/13/2006 6:25:14 AM PDT by ShadowDancer
T-Ball Coach Allegedly Has Boy Hurt Disabled Player
Child Has Autism, Mild Retardation, Speech Impairment
POSTED: 7:24 am EDT September 13, 2006
UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- A T-ball coach's desire to win at all costs became a crime when he twice asked an 8-year-old boy to hurl baseballs at a disabled teammate for $25, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The trial continues Wednesday.
Mark Downs Jr., 29, who lives in Dunbar, Pa., is charged with criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors and reckless endangerment.
Prosecutors said Downs did not want then-9-year old Harry Bowers Jr. to play in a T-ball playoff game last June because the boy didn't play as well as his teammates. Bowers has autism, mild mental retardation and a speech impairment.
So, prosecutors say, Bowers offered a player $25 to throw balls at Bowers to make sure he couldn't play.
Downs' attorney said his client was joking and it was taken out of context. The defense said Downs joked during an earlier game that he'd pay any of his players if they hit an umpire with a line drive, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.
Another player, Keith Reese, testified at a preliminary hearing that he hit Bowers with baseballs first in the groin and later in the ear. He said he did it because Downs offered him $25 to make sure Bowers wouldn't be able to play.
"He told me if I would hit Harry in the face he would pay me $25 ... so he wouldn't be able to play the game," said Reese.
League rules require each player to play at least three innings. Reese said after he hit Bowers in the groin, Downs told him to hit the boy again, harder.
"He said, 'His mom's letting Harry back in the game. Try hitting him harder in the face,'" Reese testified, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
"I went back out there and threw the ball and hit him in the ear," Reese said.
Bowers' mother, Jennifer Martin Bowers, said she complained to the league and spoke to the state police after she heard what happened. Days later, she had to take her son to the doctor because his ear became infected, she said.
The paper reported that Downs was a third-year volunteer coach in the league, and that the Falcons team included his twin daughters.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the RW Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs did not ask to return
Wonder what his next volunteer job & contribution to the community will be?
This is beyond disgusting.
For a game that isn't even competitive. Cripes but I detest "coaches" like this one. (Alas, I've seen too many like him.)
Blame shifting to the extreme. Trying to weasel his way out responsibility for his actions, just like any other playground bully, by trying to make himself look like the poor misunderstood martyr and everybody else like they have no sense of humor. And guess who's the first to whine when someone either catches them or THEY'RE the brunt of someone else's bullying.
So have I. As an aside, other than the disabled boy, aren't 8 and 9 year olds a little old for T-Ball?
In T-ball the ball is set upon a stand it isn't thrown or the manager throws to his own team. At least that is the way it is done in Chicago.
T-ball was always a riot. When a kid would hit the ball a pack would descend upon it practically fighting for it. Then the throw to first could go anywhere. If a kid was actually thrown out it was pretty standard for him to bust into tears.
Yep, but the players do still throw the ball to bases.
What is trully sad about all of this is the local news coverage. Twice I have seen the parents of the boys in question shuttling their sons (wearing sweatshirt, hoods up and over their faces) to their cars. As bad as this is (Downs should have been dismissed by the league and damages, criminality worked out by the parties involved) it has turned into a media feeding frenzy.
FWIW, one of my sons has travelled to DW Clark to play tournament ball. It is a nice smaller complex of three or four fields. Typical small town locale (its outside of Uniontown).
"He told me if I would hit Harry in the face he would pay me $25 ... so he wouldn't be able to play the game," said Reese.
League rules require each player to play at least three innings. Reese said after he hit Bowers in the groin, Downs told him to hit the boy again, harder.
"He said, 'His mom's letting Harry back in the game. Try hitting him harder in the face,'" Reese testified, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
"I went back out there and threw the ball and hit him in the ear," Reese said.
This is one seriously screwed up kid.
Boy, that's the truth. If one of my kids deliberately hurt another child, whether it was for money or not, he'd regret it for a long, long time.
Amazing! It's T-ball. This guy needs to stand in front of some very good major league baseball pitcher and take a few 100 mph fastballs to the head.
There are alot of them out there...believe me. My kids play multiple sports. One common occurence not wanting to wear a prescribed knee wrap, protective sleeve, etc. Why? It is kind of a bullseye for the cheapshotters who play dirty. They gotta start somewhere...I guess 8 is as good as anytime.
Yes, I ordered the Code Red.
"If one of my kids deliberately hurt another child, whether it was for money or not, he'd regret it for a long, long time.
"
But, see, you're a good parent. That's the difference here. Any kid who would do what that creep of a coach wanted should be barred from sports permanently.
Hey, if you can't stand the heat, stay outta Fayette County. ;-)
SD
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