Stand Up and Take It: T-ball coach accused of bribing player to hit autistic teammate says he feels ‘persecuted’
The lawyer for Mark R. Downs Jr., 29, of Dunbar (PA)—the T-ball coach who is accused of offering $25 to a then-8-year-old player to hit another player, then-9-year-old Harry Bowers Jr., who is autistic—says that his client cannot get a fair trial due to intense media coverage. As noted in today’s Associated Press, Downs was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday on charges of “solicitation, corruption of minors and reckless endangerment.”
The charges against Downs drew the attention of media outlets around the world. Many columnists expressed disgust at what they considered adult corruption of a child’s sport.
“We feel he’s been persecuted by the media,” defense attorney Thomas Shaffer said. “[The case] was on from the nightly news in Japan to every syndicated network broadcast across the country.”
Shaffer, Downs’s lawyer, noted that his client ”had joked at another game about paying players to hit an umpire with a ball” and that these words were taken out of context.
Rather than feeling “persecuted by the media,” it seems to me that Downs needs to take responsibility for his words, and for himself.
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POSTED IN: Legal Issues, Sports
7 opinions for Stand Up and Take It: T-ball coach accused of bribing player to hit autistic teammate says he feels ‘persecuted’
alexander's daddy
Sep 12, 2006 at 12:49 pm
It’s a good thing that Mr. Down’s that my son was not the one involved. It’s also a good thing for me that my son was not involved. He feel’s persecuted, what a joke.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 12, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Or that Charlie was involved…..
Jemaleddin
Sep 14, 2006 at 4:40 am
I guess what really bothers me, besides his pathetic attitude, is the he REALLY doesn’t get what “persecuted” means. There aren’t mobs outside his house. Nobody is tossing death threats tied to rocks through his windows. His bushes haven’t been set on fire.
Not that I want these things to happen to him - but he really shouldn’t use words he doesn’t understand.
dean
Sep 14, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Mark downs deserves worse than probation as one report disclosed. I suggest he serve 1000 hrs as a tutor at a local ABA provider. Denying a child his right to become what millions of kids dream of being normal is an injustice at all levels. He has no idea the tribulations of not only the autistic child , but the parents raising him.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 15, 2006 at 1:34 pm
That would be more than a turnaround—
Kassiane
Sep 15, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I think they should make him coach special olympics.
After a 200 hour course in doing so.
For 5 years.
With the lower ‘ability groups’.
He needs a SERIOUS attitude adjustment.
Brett
Sep 15, 2006 at 8:35 pm
The guy obviously doesn’t understand that what he’s done was wrong. Unfortunately, I don’t think any amount of working with kids, of any type, will help him understand or change.
With any luck, he’ll never be allowed around kids in a teaching / coaching role again. Heaven help any kids of his own he may happen to have.
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