close

Coach had earlier brush with law before

By Rebekah Sungala 5 min read

A youth baseball coach apparently had an earlier brush with the law weeks before police say he offered a 7-year-old boy money to intentionally injure an autistic teammate to keep him from playing in a game. In late May, Mark Downs, 27, of Dunbar, was placed in the Fayette County Prison in lieu of a $3,500 cash bond on charges of terroristic threats and simple assault after he allegedly assaulted Sheree Miller, 25, at a Main Street home in the village of Bitner, Franklin Township, state police said.

While his attorney, Thomas W. Shaffer, said Thursday that he believed charges in that case were dropped, a representative from Magisterial District Judge Mike Defino’s office said records indicate the charges remain and that Downs faces a preliminary hearing in Defino’s office Aug. 30 at 1 p.m.

In the baseball case, Shaffer denied that Downs made such an offer to the young boy.

He called his client a “compassionate coach” and that the mother of the alleged victim in the case specifically wanted her son to play on Downs’ team.

State police allege that Downs was coaching the Falcons T-ball team at the R.W. Clark Youth League field in North Union Township on June 27 when he offered the 7-year-old boy on his team $25 to injure an 8-year-old autistic teammate. The player hit the alleged victim in the left ear and the groin area with a ball, police said, injuring the boy enough that he was unable to play in the game.

Police said the 7-year-old told the autistic boy’s mother that Downs asked him to hit her son, and the mother went to police July 1.

Downs is charged with two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

But Shaffer said his client would never try to harm one of his players in order to keep him from playing.

“Absolutely not,” said Shaffer. “Mark Downs never told that kid he’d give him $25 to hurt (the alleged victim) – never.”

The boy was taken to the Uniontown Hospital emergency room after the incident, and a copy of a medical report indicates that a doctor said the boy’s left ear and groin were red and swollen, according to police.

The mother told police that she had problems with Downs about the lack of playing time her son was getting, and that Downs “looks for excuses not (to) play (her son) because he is not as talented as the other kids,” according to a criminal complaint police filed in the case.

During an interview with police, the 7-year-old boy told state police trooper Thomas Broadwater that Downs told him he would give him $25 if he hit the autistic boy in the face with a baseball, according the complaint. The boy said Downs didn’t want the autistic youth to play, “because he wanted to win,” the complaint states.

Shaffer denies Downs ever made such a comment.

“He’s very good with children, he has children of his own, and he’s a compassionate coach,” Shaffer said, noting that the mother of the autistic child wanted her son to play for Downs.

“She asked that (her son) be on Mark Downs’ team from the beginning,” he said.

Shaffer added that the autistic boy, his mother and Downs went out for ice cream after the game.

Police interviewed the father of the 7-year-old boy who threw the ball, and the man said Downs told him, as they were carrying bags to the car after the June 27 game, that he did something “pretty ignorant,” according to the criminal complaint. Downs reportedly admitted to the father that he offered the man’s son money to injure the alleged victim before the game, police said.

“He never told him that,” Shaffer said, denying that Downs admitted any wrongdoing to the father after the game.

Broadwater said he consulted with the Fayette County district attorney’s office and said the 7-year-old boy would not be prosecuted. In a previous interview, Broadwater also said he believed what Downs is accused of doing was “a single, isolated thing.”

Eric Forsythe, president of the Clark league, said in an earlier interview that he investigated the accusations before the T-ball season ended earlier this month and couldn’t prove Downs did anything wrong. Forsythe said that this is the first complaint lodged against Downs, who was in his first year as head coach of the T-ball team. Downs previously served as an assistant coach.

The mother of the autistic boy declined comment and referred media requests to Assistant District Attorney Phyllis Jin.

Jin said the mother is trying to protect her son and is asking that everyone respects the family’s privacy.

District Attorney Nancy Vernon did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Downs is free on unsecured bond. He faces a preliminary hearing July 28 at 9:15 a.m. in Magisterial District Judge Deberah L. Kula’s North Union Township office.

Shaffer said he has not decided if he will ask for a continuance in the case.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today