Bill aimed at protecting coaches, athletic officials

e-mail this story

State Reps. Jeff Duncan, R-Clinton, and Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, filed the "South Carolina Officials Protection Act," legislation that defines criminal penalties for assault and battery when the target is a coach or sports official.

"There has been an escalation in violence in the past years at sporting events," District 14's Pitts said. "In the last couple of years officials and coaches have been assaulted and even killed.

"You go to a Little League game and in many cases the umpire is a high school kid trying to pick up some extra cash, and the parents are in the stands yelling at him like he was a major league umpire and he's just a kid," Pitts said.

Under the proposed legislation a person can be charged with a misdemeanor and face a prison term of three to five years with a fine as high as $7,500.

If the assault on the official or coach is committed with a weapon the person will be charged with a felony and face a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine.

"The laws do cover this to a great degree," Pitts said, "and people ask why single out sports officials and coaches. We didn't, society has singled them out.

" People purchase a ticket for $40 to $60 and they think that gives them the authority to yell at officials, and that has trickled down to high school sports and we've had enough of it," he said.

Truman Owens has been a sports official for 42 years and has seen problems first hand.

"We've had a few problems," he said. "The worst ones have been at Little League games. We've had to call the police to them two or three times."

Two weeks ago at the Clinton-Greer high school football game in Clinton someone in the stands threw a bottle onto the playing field, Owens said. No one was injured.

Owens said a similar law has been passed in about 20 other states and he brought it to the attention of Duncan in hopes that having one on the books would keep things from getting out of hand here.

"We don't worry about hollering or anything, and all I've ever had was threats and profanity. But we don't want it getting any worse," he said.