One of the major factors in allowing a child to play team sports is to encourage him or her to learn good sportsmanship--how to win and how to lose with equal grace. Unfortunately, the lesson of good sportsmanship seems to be hard to learn--not for young team members, but for their parents. In some cases, unsportsmanlike parents take their anger, aggression, and foul mouths and escalate them to violence. For one Oklahoma City dad, bad sportsmanship at a high school basketball game has led to a felony assault charge.
Who is he accused of assaulting? Another mouthy parent? A coach whose strategies cost the game? A referee who missed the call?
No.
Lee Roy Prince, Jr., is accused of shoving and choking a 17-year-old girls' basketball player.
On June 5, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a basketball tournament at Frederick A. Douglass Mid-High School in Oklahoma City. The Douglass Lady Trojans--who were named district champions earlier in the year--took on the Comets of the Classen School for Advanced Studies.
As frequently happens in basketball, two players got into a scuffle over a loose ball. That's when spectators and police say Prince got too involved in his daughter's game.
According to an affidavit filed in Oklahoma County District Court, as a Classen player got up off the floor after the altercation, Prince ran out of the stands and tackled the girl, causing her to strike her head on the floor before he pinned her to the floor with his forearm pressed to her throat. The Comets' coach and the victim's father attempted to pull the defendant off of the player, but he allegedly refused to let her go, continuing to keep her in a choke hold.
Eventually, the coach and the victim's father were able to pull the man off of the player and escort him from the gymnasium.
The victim sustained a cut lip, bruising to her arms, and scratches to her shoulders and chest.
Prince is charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $500.
Oklahoma law defines "aggravated assault and battery" in 21 O.S. § 644:
A. An assault and battery becomes aggravated when committed under any of the following circumstances:
1. When great bodily injury is inflicted upon the person assaulted; or
2. When committed by a person of robust health or strength upon one who is aged, decrepit, or incapacitated, as defined in Section 641 of this title.
B. For purposes of this section "great bodily injury" means bone fracture, protracted and obvious disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of the function of a body part, organ or mental faculty, or substantial risk of death.
The definition of aggravated assault as one which causes great bodily injury or one perpetrated against an elderly or frail person may be difficult for a prosecutor to prove. After all, the alleged victim is young and healthy--a high school athlete. A busted lip and bruises hardly amount to the injuries described in the statute. Although the assault of a minor by an adult is not acceptable, the legal definition may provide some leeway for a defense lawyer to negotiate a reduced charge. Simple assault and battery is misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 90 days in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000--a much better alternative than felony conviction.
