Coach for 10-year-old baseball players shoves umpire, knocks him to the ground; injured ump says he's pressing charges

An umpire said he's pressing charges after a coach of select 10-year-old baseball players shoved the ump to the ground during a game in a Dallas suburb Saturday — an incident that was caught on livestream video, KDFW-TV reported.

What are the details?

During a tournament game in The Colony — which is about 30 minutes north of Dallas — a coach for an Abilene team walked over to the umpire after a safe call at the plate and appeared to argue with the ump.

At one point the coach appeared to lift his left hand toward the umpire's face, and the umpire threw the coach out of the game.

With that, the coach shoved the ump with both hands near the umpire's head, and the victim fell backward to the grass and did not get up as others walked over to attend to him.

What happened next?

Witnesses said the coach in question got in his car after the incident and drove away from the Five-Star Complex before police arrived, KDFW reported.

The umpire — Sam Phelps of Denton — was treated and released from a hospital and has neck pain, the station said.

"It snapped back, and that’s where it hurt the most," Phelps told KDFW, adding that the last thing he remembered are two fists in his face before he fell backward.

Image source: KDFW-TV video screenshot

Phelps also confirmed to the station that he’s pressing charges against the coach: "If there are no consequences, this can continue."

Coach says he's sorry

KDFW said it spoke to the coach by phone multiple times, although the station has not named him. The coach did not want to go on camera, KDFW said, but said he's sorry and admits assaulting Phelps and hopes one day to apologize directly to him.

Police from The Colony will issued an arrest warrant for assault once probable cause is established, KDFW said.

24 Sports — which organized the tournament — gave video of the incident to detectives who are working to interview both sides, the station added. The video is now part of the assault investigation, police also told KDFW.

Anything else?

The station said the coach is banned from future 24 Sports tournaments, and his team also is banned.

"I got there, and I see [an] ambulance, I see police officers, and I see the game has stopped," L’Erin Hampton, president and founder of 24 Sports, told KDFW. "Sam's nowhere to be found, and I see that he’s in the ambulance."

Image source: KDFW-TV video screenshot

Hampton added to the station he's concerned about the impression the incident left on the young players who saw the violence with their own eyes.

"You can see the kids around," he told KDFW. "And you are like, 'What are they thinking after that happens,' right?"

Hampton added to the station that "the 'why we do it' is everything ... we've lost that ... we're so focused on the score of the game and do we wing the game, but the real win is the kids having fun."