Bay Area Coach Arrested For Battery of Ump

A Vallejo baseball coach was arrested at police headquarters on  Tuesday for battery on a sports official during a dispute at a state Babe  Ruth League tournament game at Wilson Park on Sunday.
     
David Daniel Davis, 42, allegedly assaulted the field umpire, who  had called one of his players out at first base, police said.
     
The Vallejo team had rallied from a 4-2 deficit to take a 5-4 lead  in the seventh inning of the game against a team from Sonoma, but had to  forfeit the game after the alleged assault, the team's manager John Larson  said.
     
The forfeit was the second loss for the team of 15-year-olds and  it eliminated them from the eight-team, Northern California Babe Ruth League  tournament, Larson said.
   
 Davis went to police headquarters Tuesday to file a complaint  against the umpire but, based on eyewitnesses' statements, Davis was arrested  for battery, police Lt. Abel Tenorio said.
   
 He was booked into the Solano County Jail on $5,000 bail but is no  longer in custody, according to a jail official. The penalty for battery on a  sports official is punishable with a fine up to $2,000, up to a year in the  county jail or both.
     
Larson said he did not witness the alleged battery. The field  umpire was standing closer to second base when he called the batter out at  first base, Larson said.
     
Davis, who was coaching first base, asked the field umpire to ask  the home plate umpire if his player was out, Larson said.
     
"There were some choice words from the field umpire and he threw  (Davis) out of the game," Larson said.
     
That's when Davis allegedly struck the umpire in the face,  knocking him to the ground, Tenorio said. The Vallejo Fire Department  responded to the incident around 3:15 p.m., spokesman William Tweedy said.
     
It was Davis' first year coaching but he is now out of the Babe  Ruth League, Larson said.
     
Larson said the incident has further tarnished Vallejo's  reputation.
     
"We were trying to build a better reputation than Vallejo has.  Some teams don't want to come to Vallejo to play because of the violence,"  Larson said.
     
The Vallejo Babe Ruth League team's facilities at Wilson Park were  vandalized twice in June. Vandals smashed windows, computers and stadium  lighting and left graffiti.
     
Vallejo was hosting the Babe Ruth League tournament. The League is  comprised of teams for youth up to 18 years old.
     T
hey Vallejo team's players were shocked after the forfeiture,  Larson said.
     
"Most of them have been together for three years. They got all  pumped up," he said.


 

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