T-ball coach puts out hit on retard

This was in the sports section of today's Post-Dispatch:

PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.

Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, Pa., is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy on the head with a baseball, police said.

The boy was hit on the head and on the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play. "The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."

Downs was arraigned on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.

The alleged assault happened June 27 in North Union Township, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

I may have to elaborate on this further just because obviously it brings up a lot of issues, but I just wanted to put it out there.