Let's pelt this guy with baseballs. Who's with me?
Police: Coach told player to harm disabled 8-year-old teammate
PITTSBURGH - A youth baseball coach paid one of his players to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so the boy wouldn't be able to play in a game, state police said Friday.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, offered one of his players $25 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 T-ball game because of his disability.
The solicited player hit the boy in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and the disabled boy didn't play, police said.
Downs, who is a coach with the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, had an unpublished telephone number and could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
The assault happened June 27 at the R.W. Clark baseball field in North Union Township, Fayette County, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The 8-year-old's mother asked the 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, said state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater.
"The coach was very competitive. He wanted to win," Broadwater said.
Downs was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said league organizers investigated accusations against Downs before the T-ball season ended earlier this month, but could not prove that he did anything wrong.
Yes!
*Chucks Baseballs and a few rocks*
I hate people like this. 
I deal with em all the time, (what with me being on the school's FB team. Hate everyone on it.) my coach especially. They do anything to win some stupid game the really deosn't even matter.
I have to argue with that there. They do matter. It's all about the love of the game, as they say. Why do they want to win so badly? Because, if they do well enough, they just might get a sports scholorship. If they do well enough in college, they just might get to the pros and make a ton of cash. So it's basically pride, love, and money.
Please note that I do not condone what the coach did.
Thank you.
Man, it's bad enough hitting an 8 year old kid with a baseball on both the head and groin, but an 8 year old mentally disabled?!
~Neo
The best possible thing for those that carried out such an awful would be an early death.
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The best possible thing for those that carried out such an awful would be an early death.
It may take some time but remember: What goes around comes around. And it will most likely be when they think everything is forgotten.
That is just horrible and unright. Lets pelt away. I mean like someone said, pelting a eight year old is bad enough but a mentally disabled? Sheesh, when is people going to get a good nature or a concience? This makes me arrgravated, this guy deserves a pelting himself - with a bat made of steel preferbally. As well the league's council found nothing wrong? ACK. Well find something now since the press has their hands on it.
Bah.
I can't believe that the leaugr found nothing wrong either. I mean he PAID someone to bean this kid. It's all about the coach, what about the player who carried out this assult?
The Player didn't know any better. He was under the influence, a minor, and can't be found guilty for anything besides doing a wronged deed. Like said, the coach was charged for Minor Exploitation and such.
I'm not a big fan of baseball or softball or T-ball or whatever the hell the Yanks are playing these days, but I'm glad the guy got in trouble. It begs the question, however, as to why they don't have a seperate league for handicapped kids. They're practically asking for these disabled kids to be ostracized by their teammates and targeted by opposing players.
Some people in the world are terribly evil...
And yes- I would like to hit this guy.
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I have to argue with that there. They do matter. It's all about the love of the game, as they say. Why do they want to win so badly? Because, if they do well enough, they just might get a sports scholorship. If they do well enough in college, they just might get to the pros and make a ton of cash. So it's basically pride, love, and money.
I agree on this. See, currently there's a big debate about why Americans are obese, and there are political groups that argue that this is due to cuts in physical education budgets. This may be true, but I think another reason is because PE programs and other kids' sports programs focus so much attention on catapulting a few star kids into college scholarships and pro sports, and not into the general physical wellfare of all the kids. The point of these programs should be to encourage all kids to get involved in a variety of sports and activities they'll enjoy for life, not idolizing a few kids in team sports and being assholes to the rest of them.
I know that most coaches are good people, but the way sports education in America is structured could really use an overhaul.
BTW, I don't care if the player who was hired to assault the other child was a minor, and not criminally responsible. He's still morally responsible for his own actions. Even when I was a kid, my mother taught me not to hit other kids. This is very very basic. Normal kid-like behavior usually is "getting in a fight and hitting someone after another kid made fun of you." This doesn't compare to hurting people for money. It doesn't matter if he just beaned a kid with a baseball, it's just the idea behind the action that's most horrible.
Yes, the coach is the worst here, but the child who actually did the assault, while he's not a criminal, should be taught a few things about human decency and personal responsibility.
Cyc, I think, long ago, before society got rabidly afraid of hurting feelings and ostracizing people, there were. There special schools, there were special leagues. Then came the ACLU and ploitical correctness. And the rest...well, you know how it turned out. We live in it.
That's horrible. Maybe someone should hit his head and groin with a baseball?
Or maybe a bowling ball.
Cyc, I think, long ago, before society got rabidly afraid of hurting feelings and ostracizing people, there were. There special schools, there were special leagues. Then came the ACLU and ploitical correctness. And the rest...well, you know how it turned out. We live in it.
Last I checked, ACLU and political correctness were about letting disabled people do the things everyone else does, not making it so slow kids have to play competitive sports against kids who are smarter and faster, and who can and will ostracise and abuse them. ACLU is the kind of group that gets schools to build wheelchair ramps, not make wheelchair-bound students play track sports against kids who still have legs.
*pelts that guy with baseballs*
What makes me luagh is that a kid would be stupid enough to take 25 bucks just to beat up some one, cuasing him to be known nationwide with a bad rep. XD
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The point of these programs should be to encourage all kids to get involved in a variety of sports and activities they'll enjoy for life, not idolizing a few kids in team sports and being assholes to the rest of them.
So true. I guess I was lucky because that's how sports were when I was young. It wasn't until high school that it began to "change" in some respects. But the sport I played (basketball) had coaches who cared more about "fun" and playing "the right way" than winning, so I've always had good experiences.
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Last I checked, ACLU and political correctness were about letting disabled people do the things everyone else does, not making it so slow kids have to play competitive sports against kids who are smarter and faster, and who can and will ostracise and abuse them. ACLU is the kind of group that gets schools to build wheelchair ramps, not make wheelchair-bound students play track sports against kids who still have legs.
No...there's federal laws in place for that sort of thing now. The ACLU and PC-ness have since degenerated to the point where they WILL force the special schools to shut down, where they WILL force handicapped children to play with the non-handicapped, because THEY abolished the special leagues that let them have a fair game!
This coach has some serious problems. But I myself have never been in sports, so I have no idea how much it means to some people. But still, hiring a little kid for twenty-five bucks to put another one out of commission seems a little bit absurd, not to mention horribly wrong. And a mentally disabled kid at that! The coach should have spoken to the school officials or the kid's parents or someone instead of performing this heinous act! I agree; what goes around comes around. Let the coach fry.
I've never been good at sports. There's something wrong with my balance and coordination. Without even playing the "disability" card, I've easily managed to get around the requirements for physical education.
Now, what does that say about our school systems? They're certainly not interested in the physical health of all their students if nearly all my friends have no PE class. It might just be my high school, but there seems to be the problem of idolizing the kids who are excellent at sports, while leaving the mediocre ones in the dust, and totally ignoring the physically disadvantaged.
Did I go off-topic? 
Please forgive the Shoe! Sorry, I'm paranoid about going off-topic. [shudder]
