Assaulting a Local Sports Official May Become a Felony Soon

Area schools continually warn the fans to let the players play, the coaches coach, and the officials officiate. Yet coaches and even fans sometimes take it too far with the officials.

The chairman of a key Senate committee has introduced a bill to boost the penalty for assaulting a referee or umpire. Troy Scheuermann of Farmington is urging lawmakers to make this move for sports officials. Scheuermann, who’s a basketball referee, cites what happened after he and a partner volunteered to referee a three-on-three tournament for fifth graders in Fort Madison last March.

Fort Madison’s newspaper has reported that a Burlington man was arrested and charged with a serious misdemeanor. Senator Lynn Evans of Aurelia is a licensed official for football, basketball, baseball, softball and track. He’s never been assaulted over a call he’s made, but Evans says the escalation of these kind of incidents is discouraging people from becoming a sports official.

Senator Nate Boulton of Des Moines says police in Des Moines had to be called this past year after an umpire was assaulted at a slow pitch softball game.

Senator Mike Bousselot of Ankeny says the bill will draw a line of protection for sports officials.

The bill has cleared a Senate subcommittee and is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Twenty-three other states have already made assaulting a sports official a felony.