A suburban Philadelphia youth football coach pleaded guilty to simple assault yesterday stemming from an incident that landed another coach in the hospital.
Larry Simpson, 42, pleaded guilty in Delaware County court agreeing to two years of intermediate punishment, 90 days of electronic home monitoring, anger management classes, community service and repaying the victim's $140,000 (minus what was covered by insurance) worth of medical bills, according to prosecutors.
Simpson was charged after a fight broke that out following a youth football game last year.
Simpson, a coach for the Claymont (Del.) Falcons, got into a fight with Chichester (Pa.) Crusaders coach following the two teams’ Delaware County Youth Football League game Oct. 12 at Chichester Middle School.
Upper Chichester Police Detective Chris Jones said the incident began as a verbal altercation between Simpson and a Crusaders coach, identified by the team as Lamar Shaw, during the game.
After the game the two men began to argue again and that’s when things became physical -- an incident both sides call unfortunate.
A message on the Crusaders' website summed up their account of the events:
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“After the game was over, Chichester Coach Lamar Shaw was attacked by a Claymont coach and it is now in the hands of the Upper Chichester Police Department.”
Jones said that Simpson punched Shaw and broke his jaw.
In a post on the Falcons' website, Falcons leader Oliver Childs said he didn’t condone the incident and that the fight began with threats from Shaw.
“Threatening words from a Chichester coach to a Claymont Falcon coach lead to a physical confrontation with punches being exchanged… While the Chichester coach may have been the aggressor that inflamed the incident, punches should never be thrown at a children's sporting event. Ever!”
Shaw remained hospitalized for days following the incident and surgery.
Simpson turned himself in on Oct. 17 and faced three counts including aggravated assault, according to court records.
Simpson has had run-in with the law before, according to court documents. In 2002 he served time after pleading guilty to criminal conspiracy and simple assault charges stemming from a 1999 incident and he served time after pleading guilty to a 2001 drug charge.
It's unclear why a coach with a criminal past was coaching middle-school aged kids.
As part of his punishment, Simpson was ordered not to come in contact with his victim.
