RENTON, Wash. — A Renton man is now officially charged with assault after two teen referees were pushed to the ice during a youth hockey game at the Kraken Community Iceplex Sunday.
Forty-two-year-old Uriel Cortes is charged with two counts of assault in the fourth degree.
A newly proposed law would specifically go after anyone who hurts a referee, physically or verbally, according to Washington Rep. Suzanne Schmidt of the Fourth Legislative District, a sponsor the of legislation.
HB 1085 was unanimously voted out of committee late this afternoon and now heads to the House Floor for consideration. The House Committee on Safety voted unanimously in favor of the measure.
According to a complaint filed Tuesday by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, Cortes is facing two counts of assault – gross misdemeanors. KOMO News reached out to the 42-year-old father for comment, but so far, he has not yet responded.
The incident was captured on camera during a Sunday morning game at the Kraken Community Iceplex, which shows a man walking onto the rink during a game and pushing two referees so hard they fall to the ice. Both teens, 13 and 14 years old, were treated on scene. One for an injured hip and neck, the other for an elbow injury.
Two days later, the incident appears to be top of mind for various ice rinks around the region, especially those part of the hockey community, including those who train and play at the Olympicview Arena in Mountlake Terrace.
Before the puck even dropped for “lunch hockey”- a bi-weekly event for a local Men’s Hockey League – a player said the chatter was about it -including both disappointment and disbelief.
“I don’t think anyone ever expects an adult to physically assault two minors,” said player Chris DiRie. “I can say unequivocally in the locker room, it was the first topic of conversation.”
According to a Seattle police report, Cortes told an officer that he went on the ice to defend his son and break up a fight. He said his son was being kicked and punched during the game for a 12 U Rec game – players 11 and 12 years old.
But in that same document, the officer noted the attack on the young referees was “unprovoked” and said video of the incident revealed no fight happening when the refs were pushed. The boys told police they were assessing potential penalties when they came face to face with what witnesses describe as an “irate parent.”
“It has no place in the game regardless of the child’s sport- the parents need to stay in the bleachers,” said DiRie.
Schmidt introduced legislation in January to better protect sports referees in our state. Bill Information posted online says the measure is for Improving school safety by extending penalties for interference by, or intimidation by threat of, force or violence at schools and extracurricular activities and requiring schools to notify the public of such penalties.
“My reaction was, that’s exactly why I’m running this bill. Violence isn’t okay. It’s not okay to get upset with somebody making a call that you don’t agree with and to get up and, you know, like the father in the video that I saw this morning, you know, got onto the ice and put and push two of the referees down,” said Schmidt, who said the violence is making it hard to find referees.
“There’s more and more referees just pulling out saying, ‘You know what, I’m not going to do this because I’m being, you know, physically assaulted.'”
One of the state’s two referees in chief, Jeremi Del Campo, told KOMO News in a statement that he believes threats from parents are a regular occurrence happening weekly “nationwide,” and he would hope that harsher penalties would make them think twice.
“I think that’s appropriate to do that because I believe that people learn, you know, from their mistakes, and they learn when they’ve been held accountable. It lets them know that this is a gross misdemeanor that can be punishable by $500 or six months in jail.”
Schmidt said in addition to physical assaults but verbal attacks, the legislation would ban offenders from schools and games for a year and require public schools to post warning signs.
“I think a lot of parents need to take a step back and realize less than 1% of the kids are ever going to play these games professionally, so these games are really about understanding teamwork, DiRie said.
