Should coach pay for pushing an 11-year-old?
UPDATE: In today’s story, Coach Tony Warneke explains his side of the story. Also, he says he has been asked to resign and will do so. The 11-year-old’s parents said they are “keeping their options” open regarding further legal action, but they want the association to ban Warneke for life from coaching or attending the games. Is this a reasonable request?
PREVIOUS POST: As if parents haranguing their own children on the field wasn’t bad enough, now there are reports of a grown man shoving an 11-year-old boy on a football field.
Parents of Wesley Deavenport say they are outraged after the boy was allegedly shoved by the coach of an opposing football team. The incident was captured on videotape.
According to KSDK’s website, it happened in the High 5 post-game reception line, after a club football game in the Park-Rock Football Association Saturday morning. The site quotes the boy’s father as saying that one of the opposing team’s coaches assaulted his son by shoving his face mask.
After Wesley’s team coaches realized a sport videographer captured the moment on videotape, they called the police.
“There’s no question, it is assault,” Deavenport said. “It’s assault to a minor and I’ve already spent time with police discussing this situation.
“This grown man approaches him and physically and forcefully pushes him, hits him in the head and my son had no idea why that was happening, how that could be happening, and here he is in a safe zone, a fun sport, and this guy really affected him, emotionally.
“It sounds as though his hand hit right at the point of the face mask and the top of the helmet. And it was enough force to make him almost fall down, backwards. If you see him, he’s grasping as he’s falling backwards, trying to hold himself up, and regain balance.”
NewsChannel 5 spoke to the coach viewed on the videotape. We are not identifying him, because he has not been charged. He says that action viewed on videotape was justified by some of the events that happened during the game. There were referees in attendance.
Chesterfield police are investigating. Whatever they decide will be forwarded to prosecutors, Monday.
The Park-Rock Football Association is a club; it has no formal affiliation with either Parkway or Rockwood School Districts.
Coordinator Steve Russel says club officials are meeting Monday, to consider what happened Saturday.
Watch the video here and weigh in on whether this coach should be charged with a crime.
Aisha covered education and breaking news for nearly ten years before joining the Lifestyle staff where she writes a "Dirty Laundry" parenting column. She is the home and family editor and wastes too much time on Facebook and political blogs. 
Heck yeah he needs to be punished. My son plays for Mid Rivers Football and if I seen a coach do that he would pay. He should be kicked out of coaching and as a fan.
An adult around kids need to show restaint and proper conduct.If they can’t they shouldn’t be around them.There’s no justified excuse fot this coach actions.The kids are a refection of the people around them.Kids who are treated with violence,become violent adults who would use brute force over common reasoning.
According to the “shoving” coach, the child was making inappropriate comments to his team. I don’t understand why an adult who is presumably upset with a child for using profanity or making unsportsmanlike comments would decide that pushing him was the proper way to handle the situation. Why didn’t he just talk to the child’s coach and tell him that his player was acting inappropriately?
What a great lesson. I just don’t understand why he did that except that he is obviously an immature person who cannot handle his emotions.
there is NO justification on this earth for a coach to strike any player the way this individual did - none what so ever!
What the hell was he thinking?
What is even more sickening is this so-called “man” tried to justify physically shoving and eleven year old boy rather than man up, apologize, and show some regret for his childish behavior.
I couldn’t deal with other people kids… A lot of them are just brats and know they can get away with murder… I understand, but if the child is not respecting an adult and the adult is trying to get their attention… It depends on the extent of the shove…. I could see the coaches point, but that is why I don’t mentor “your” brats….
I agree that a coach should show restraint (as should any adult) but this has gotten blown WAY out of proportion! The kid was making nasty comments to each of the coach’s players as he went down the line. The coach put his hand on the kid’s helmet and pushed him back. If the coach had slugged him or struck him, that’s a different story. And an “assault” it is, but you can walk up to a stranger and place your hand on their shoulder and that’s an “assault” under Missouri law, which defines one kind of assault as “The person knowingly causes physical contact with another person knowing the other person will regard the contact as offensive or provocative.” (That’s RSMo 565.070 if you’re interested.) So calling it an “assault” - which it is - does make it sound a lot worse than what happened - putting a hand on the kid’s helmet and pushing him back. I think many parents think their kids can do no wrong no matter how nasty they are, and this coach has probably dealt with a lot worse in his day. Toughen up, people. I believe this is what the Dog Whisperer would call a “correction.” Sometimes kids need it, folks!
John, I don’t know what planet you are from, but there is no excuse for touching that kid. That is an adult and he should have taken it to the kid’s parents or one of the coaches. Yes, kids can be obnoxious, but parents are allowed to hit a kid and neither should coached. Would he have done the same thing to an adult in that situation? probably not. That’s why we have laws to protect kids.
“He says that action viewed on videotape was justified by some of the events that happened during the game. ”
I don’t think there is anything in the world this kid could have done that would “justify” a supposed grown-up manhandling him in such a manner.
He should be arrested, charged, and never allowed to coach another team again.
Jenniferwhatnot,
Have you ever heard “sticks and stones”? So what if this kid was saying crude and/or rude things to the other players. I am sure there is recourse for such behavior through the club’s official structure. As an adult, this opposing team coach should set an example by using that methodology and not physical violence and retribution.
This kid was hit or jerked around by the face mask. Do you realize how dangerous that could have been? I’m talking whiplash, broken necks, etc. Even the NFL charges 15 yards for even acciental/incidental face mask contact.