BRANCHBURG, N.J. — A New York youth baseball coach is behind bars after authorities said he attacked an umpire during a recent game in New Jersey.
According to MyCentralJersey.com and NJ.com, Staten Island resident Jerry Otero, 40, was booked on charges of fourth-degree assault at a youth sports event and third-degree aggravated assault after he turned himself in Tuesday morning, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey said in a news release.
Authorities said the assault occurred shortly after 8 p.m. June 4 during a 13-and-under baseball game at White Oak Park in Branchburg, New Jersey, the release said. Branchburg police arrived to find a 72-year-old umpire bleeding from his mouth, prosecutors said.
“The victim told officers that while umpiring a little league baseball game, he ejected one of the coaches for using foul language,” the release said, adding that Otero had left the scene before officers arrived. “The victim told the officers that the coach, who was later identified as Jerry Otero, punched him on the left side of his face.”
Prosecutors said the umpire suffered a concussion and a fractured jaw in the attack.
Otero, who turned himself in about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, remains in the Somerset County Jail as he awaits a detention hearing, the news release said.
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