Come on people. They're 8 yr olds......
Take me out to the brawl-game
A Brighton youth baseball game is followed by an after-innings fight that leaves two adults charged with assault.
By Kevin Simpson
Denver Post Staff Writer
The emotional aftermath of a game-ending triple play in a Brighton youth baseball game led to an ugly rhubarb that left two adults charged with misdemeanor assault and a third nursing a concussion.
The incident also left some 8-year-old players in tears, wondering how their fun could turn so foul.
Ambrose "Butch" Rivera, 38-year-old head coach of the Denver-based Colorado Hawks, was charged with one count of third-degree assault for his involvement in a Sunday morning melee that erupted minutes after his team lost to the Green Mountain Rams in the semifinal of a state tournament.
Sabina Rael, 34, also associated with the Hawks, was charged with both assault and disorderly conduct for her role in the fracas. She did not return calls for comment.
All charges are misdemeanors that carry penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Brighton police are still seeking a second adult male suspect believed to be with the Hawks, said Sgt. Paul Southard.
Brian Gentry, a fan of a third team who witnesses say tried to quell the escalating conflict between women from both the Hawks and Rams, suffered a concussion and other minor injuries when Rivera joined the fray and "sucker punched" him, according to police. An unidentified suspect allegedly kicked him as he lay on the ground.
Although Rivera denied hitting anyone and said he didn't see what caused Gentry to fall, police said that independent witnesses described him striking Gentry in the head.
Differing accounts of the scuffle were complicated by what both Rivera and Gentry describe as a long history of conflict over incidents at Softball Country, a sports complex that Gentry's family owns.
After a close game marked by raucous cheering on both sides, Gentry said, he saw a girl from the Hawks' side - later identified as Rael's daughter - throw what he believed to be a drink container at one of the women with the Green Mountain team, striking her in the face.
Then, when another Rams fan grabbed the girl by the arm to keep her from running away, the girl yelled for help - and events quickly escalated, he added.
"I don't know what the child was doing over there," said Gentry, whose son's team had just finished playing on an adjacent field. "But it seemed like a real bad deal right off the get-go."
Rivera said Hawks witnesses told him the girl threw the bottle in response to a racial slur and that Gentry struck a 13-year-old boy on his way into the midst of the disturbance.
Although Rivera allowed that he didn't see what initiated the conflict, he said the ensuing scuffle did have racial overtones.
He and Gentry spoke briefly as Rivera arrived on the scene. Gentry thought that, despite their history, Rivera had come to help. But Rivera took offense when Gentry told him to "control your people."
"I hate to use that racial situation, but unfortunately I feel that's where this went," Rivera said.
But the biggest victims may have been the kids who witnessed the scene.
Rivera's son and his teammates saw the fight break out and their coach get arrested. And the Green Mountain players saw their joy turn to fearful confusion.
"They go from elated to crying," said Rick Lane, president of the Brighton Youth Baseball Association, which ran the tournament. "They didn't know what was going on."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4009471
Take me out to the brawl-game
A Brighton youth baseball game is followed by an after-innings fight that leaves two adults charged with assault.
By Kevin Simpson
Denver Post Staff Writer
The emotional aftermath of a game-ending triple play in a Brighton youth baseball game led to an ugly rhubarb that left two adults charged with misdemeanor assault and a third nursing a concussion.
The incident also left some 8-year-old players in tears, wondering how their fun could turn so foul.
Ambrose "Butch" Rivera, 38-year-old head coach of the Denver-based Colorado Hawks, was charged with one count of third-degree assault for his involvement in a Sunday morning melee that erupted minutes after his team lost to the Green Mountain Rams in the semifinal of a state tournament.
Sabina Rael, 34, also associated with the Hawks, was charged with both assault and disorderly conduct for her role in the fracas. She did not return calls for comment.
All charges are misdemeanors that carry penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Brighton police are still seeking a second adult male suspect believed to be with the Hawks, said Sgt. Paul Southard.
Brian Gentry, a fan of a third team who witnesses say tried to quell the escalating conflict between women from both the Hawks and Rams, suffered a concussion and other minor injuries when Rivera joined the fray and "sucker punched" him, according to police. An unidentified suspect allegedly kicked him as he lay on the ground.
Although Rivera denied hitting anyone and said he didn't see what caused Gentry to fall, police said that independent witnesses described him striking Gentry in the head.
Differing accounts of the scuffle were complicated by what both Rivera and Gentry describe as a long history of conflict over incidents at Softball Country, a sports complex that Gentry's family owns.
After a close game marked by raucous cheering on both sides, Gentry said, he saw a girl from the Hawks' side - later identified as Rael's daughter - throw what he believed to be a drink container at one of the women with the Green Mountain team, striking her in the face.
Then, when another Rams fan grabbed the girl by the arm to keep her from running away, the girl yelled for help - and events quickly escalated, he added.
"I don't know what the child was doing over there," said Gentry, whose son's team had just finished playing on an adjacent field. "But it seemed like a real bad deal right off the get-go."
Rivera said Hawks witnesses told him the girl threw the bottle in response to a racial slur and that Gentry struck a 13-year-old boy on his way into the midst of the disturbance.
Although Rivera allowed that he didn't see what initiated the conflict, he said the ensuing scuffle did have racial overtones.
He and Gentry spoke briefly as Rivera arrived on the scene. Gentry thought that, despite their history, Rivera had come to help. But Rivera took offense when Gentry told him to "control your people."
"I hate to use that racial situation, but unfortunately I feel that's where this went," Rivera said.
But the biggest victims may have been the kids who witnessed the scene.
Rivera's son and his teammates saw the fight break out and their coach get arrested. And the Green Mountain players saw their joy turn to fearful confusion.
"They go from elated to crying," said Rick Lane, president of the Brighton Youth Baseball Association, which ran the tournament. "They didn't know what was going on."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4009471
