The Akron Legal News

Bill proposes felony for assaulting sports officials

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: July 5, 2019

An alarming shortage of high school sports referees has prompted a pair of Ohio lawmakers to go after unruly adults, who are driving away officials with their sideline antics.

A former basketball referee, Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, told fellow members of the Ohio House of Representatives that the dwindling pool of qualified officials is due to what the Ohio High School Athletic Association calls "adult behavior."

The numbers don't lie - four out of five new officials don't stick around for more than two years, and of those who quit, 75 percent cited the conduct of grownups as their primary motivation for leaving, he said.

"While not as experienced as my cosponsor, I have served as a coach for youth sports," Miller continued, referencing Republican Rep. Bill Roemer of Richfield. "I have also been a parent watching in the stands, and I was a student athlete myself ... and I understand the tremendous benefits that sports can provide.

"That is why it is imperative for us to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for everyone involved."

House Bill 208 would increase the penalty for the offense of assault to a fifth-degree felony if the victim is a sports official and the assault is committed during or immediately before or after an event, or in retaliation for the official's actions as a sports official.

Ohio Revised Code section 2903.13 generally specifies that the crime of assault is a first degree misdemeanor.

HB 208 defines a sports official as any person who is paid or volunteers to enforce the rules of a sports event as a referee, umpire, linesperson, timer, scorekeeper or in a similar capacity. A sports event includes any interscholastic or intramural athletic event or athletic activity at an elementary or secondary school, college or university, or in which such a school, college or university participates; any organized athletic activity, including an organized athletic activity sponsored by a community, business or nonprofit organization; or any athletic activity that is a professional or semiprofessional event.

"My son Greg is currently a Double-A minor league baseball umpire," Roemer told Criminal Justice Committee members. "While working as an OHSAA certified umpire, he has had his car blocked in and (been) confronted by an angry coach while in the act of performing his duties.

"We, as a society, encourage athletic activity as a character-building exercise that inspires teamwork and camaraderie between our youth. There is simply no place for violence against the officials that put so much time and effort into making sports a fun, safe and worthwhile environment to participate in."

The lawmaker said he hoped the provisions of the bill never have to be utilized as players, coaches, parents and spectators recognize the increased consequences of their actions.

Ohio would join 21 other states that have some type of additional protection for sports officials were the bill passed.

"In my time as a referee, I have been lucky enough to avoid any confrontations that would fall under the scope of HB 208," Miller said. "Even so, I have witnessed the 'mob mentality' that can be set off in an instant: One controversial call, one game-altering violation is all it takes.

"In those tense moments, officials need to know they have the full weight of the law behind them."

The lawmakers agreed the state must act to avoid what they characterized as a looming crisis and to preempt referee shortages that would hamper scheduling sporting events.

Three fellow House members have signed on a cosponsors of the bill, which had not been scheduled a second hearing at time of publication.

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