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NJ Youth Baseball Coach Arrested In Umpire's Assault: Prosecutor

A North Jersey youth baseball coach from Staten Island has been arrested in the assault of a 72-year-old umpire that left him with a broken jaw earlier this month, authorities announced.

Jerry Otero

Jerry Otero

Photo Credit: Somerset County Prosecutor's Office

Jerry Otero on Tuesday, June 21 surrendered to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office in connection with the June 4 incident at White Oak Park in Branchburg, Acting Somerset County Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said.

The incident happened during a 13-and-under game around 8:10 p.m., Taggart said. Otero had left the park before police got there.

The umpire told police that Otero had been ejected for using foul language before punching him on the left side of his face. A follow-up investigation found that the umpire had suffered a broken jaw and concussion from being struck by Otero.

Mike Kolesar, General Manager of the Gamers Baseball/Softball Academy, said he's never seen anything like this in his years of experience.

"What are we doing?" he said in a video shared to Facebook. "What are we teaching these kids? And the parents of that group screaming out he deserved it? How bad can it be?

"We’ve got to be better."

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