http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... c=pg&tc=ar
The referee who was assaulted by youth football coaches and players at a Saturday game told detectives he did not want to press charges.
Referee Jayme Ream, 41, signed a waiver of prosecution as the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office began to investigate the attack that occurred at an afternoon game between the Sarasota Gators and the North Port Huskies at Riverview High School.
However, authorities can still decide to pursue battery charges without Ream and the Sheriff's Office has announced they have identified four suspects.
Col. Steve Burns will hold a press conference at 1:15 p.m. to update the investigation.
Attacking an athletic official is a felony in Florida.
The fight that quickly turned into a mob scene was apparently over a disputed call in the game among the two junior teams ages 13 and 14.
A video captured by a parent in the stands shows Gator coaches first throwing water bottles at the referees and then an unidentified parent or coach walking onto the field toward Ream.
According to a Sheriff's report, Ream says an unnamed suspect threw him to the ground.
The suspect, who said Ream was being unfair to his team, told deputies that Ream pushed him first.
Then a player in full gear, and presumably 13 or 14 years old, is seen in the video rushing through the field and tackling Ream.
Ream has not responded to multiple calls for comment.
What happened next, captured on video and now being investigated by authorities, is shocking: more than a dozen youth football coaches and players attacking at least one referee, including a player in full gear except for his helmet flying into a referee and tackling him to the ground.
Felony charges could follow an investigation into what happened Saturday — and who did what — during the game between the age 13-14 junior teams of the Sarasota Gators and North Port Huskies played at Riverview High School.
The investigation will be easier for authorities since the fight was videotaped by someone in the stands and turned over to the Sheriff's Office.
Debbie Ismail, a "team mom" whose son Adam plays for the Huskies pee wee team, was just feet away from the melee.
Ismail said the fight started minutes before halftime over some disputed calls, and the coaches from the Gators started throwing water bottles at the referees.
"I was shocked," Ismail said. "I looked at the children to see the expressions on their faces. They were horrified."
She added: "This is not what football is about."
The fight gave Ismail an anxiety attack, and for her son Adam, it was "terrifying" to witness.
"I felt really bad for the ref that got beat up," he said.
Ismail said the referee was taken away in an ambulance.
"The video speaks for itself," Sarasota County Sheriff's Col. Steve Burns said. "It was disturbing."
"I saw adults, entrusted in a mentoring position with the youth of our community, acting and behaving in a manner that is absolutely unacceptable," Burns said.
At the game, the video shows a coach or parent confronting a referee who was walking out of the end zone.
Punches were thrown between the two men, who started grappling, until a Gator player wearing the number 6 dives in and levels the referee. The boy then celebrates his hit on the official, the video shows.
As another referee tries to protect the referee on the ground, other Gators coaches, players and fans swarm the field, and one man appears to try to kick the grounded referee in the head.
The referee gets up and scampers away, but the fight continues. The whole scene lasts just over two minutes.
Attacking an athletic official is a felony in Florida.
At least two or three people would be facing felony charges, Burns said. Investigators now are identifying individuals in the footage and interviewing them.
Burns would not say if the player who tackled the referee would face charges.
"Obviously, he's not getting a real good mentor from his role model, his coaching staff," Burns said.
No one was hospitalized as a result of the fight, the Sheriff's Office said.
Sarasota County School District spokesman Scott Ferguson said the Gators league has been banned from playing on school district fields.
Derrick Timmons, a Sarasota Gators coach for a separate age group, said he was advised by the league's attorney not to speak about the incident, but said the league is trying to put it behind them.
"I don't want nothing to get twisted, so I'm not going to say anything," he said. "We all know what happened. Whatever anybody from North Port tells you ain't true. That's all I have to say about that."
Timmons said the Gators are divided into five age groups, ranging from 4 to 14. The age group involved in the incident caught on tape was 13- and 14-year-olds.
Timmons, who coaches the 11 to 12 age group, said he was at the game but did not see the incident first-hand.
"Believe me, if you saw the tape, it's a big deal," he said. "It doesn't show everything though. It doesn't show what led up to it. That's why I don't want to talk about it because it doesn't show everything. Basically at the end of it it's going to be he said this and she said that."
