Abilene, Texas Coach Who Pushed Umpire to Ground Will Face Assault Charge

Its one thing to be passionate about coaching kids, its another thing to commit assault because of that passion. That seems to be the case this past weekend when the coach of an Abilene little league team didn't like a call at home plate. In his dispute with the umpire, the coach is seen on video shoving the umpire to the ground. That umpire is reportedly set to file assault charges against that coach. The coach was a bit of a coward as well after his unsportsmanlike action.

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The game was Saturday at the Five Star Baseball Complex in The Colony which is a suburb of Dallas in Denton County. The Texas Phenoms of Abilene were losing 9-3 when there was a close call at the plate. The runner was ruled safe but the coach of the Texas Phenoms, Robbie Johnson, did not like the call. This lead to Johnson confronting the umpire, Sam Phelps, getting ejected then shoving Phelps to the ground.

Johnson claims that Phelps had made multiple questionable calls during the game causing several verbal disputes. Johnson says that Phelps yelled at one of his players. Johnson then called a timeout and that's where the disagreement escalated. Johnson shoved Phelps to the ground after being ejected.

Johnson remained on the ground for several minutes and before being taken to the hospital.

A parent watching his son play in another game, Ryan Walke, saw what happened. Walke saw coach Johnson walking to the parking lot where Walke tried to stop him from leaving. He was unable to and Johnson got in his car and drove off.

Phelps has decided to press assault charges against Johnson.

For his actions, Johnson has been banned from the 24 Sports organization as has the entire team. For the boys to continue to play, all coaches must resign and the team change it's name. Johnson did say in a phone interview that he takes full responsibility for what happened and in no way condones attacking an umpire.

Let's hope this coach learns his lesson but also makes a big apology to the kids he was coaching and let's them know that the way he acted is not the right way to respond to an on-field dispute.