This coach should spend some time in jail.

[Lefty]

This guy is a total loser.

PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 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Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.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.

 

[AZZenny]

T-Ball! Jeez.
And I'd hate to be one of his kids and screw up a little bit.

 

[PDXChris]

If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year, Forsythe said.

I am glad to see they left open the possibilty of coming back.

The quote should have read like this-"That peice of crap will never be allowed to coach a child of any kind for the rest of his life, in fact to make an example, both his daughters are banned for life, along with his mother, uncle Harvey, and his poodle, FeFe," Forythe said.

 

[BC867]

'Wonder if he's related to Wally Backman.

(I believe that abusive people should be punished to the full extent of the law.)

 

[Djaughe]

I am glad to see they left open the possibilty of coming back.

The quote should have read like this-"That peice of crap will never be allowed to coach a child of any kind for the rest of his life, in fact to make an example, both his daughters are banned for life, along with his mother, uncle Harvey, and his poodle, FeFe," Forythe said.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

I am glad to see they left open the possibilty of coming back.

The quote should have read like this-"That peice of crap will never be allowed to coach a child of any kind for the rest of his life, in fact to make an example, both his daughters are banned for life, along with his mother, uncle Harvey, and his poodle, FeFe," Forythe said.

Well said..

This lowlife should never be allowed to set foot on a t-ball field as a coach again.

Trash like this ruins the value of what T-Ball is supposed to be all about.