A Delaware man accused of throwing a beer bottle at Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard after a June 4 game appeared in Philadelphia court to face a disorderly conduct charge on Tuesday.
Sidney Smith, 21, of Wilmington, opted in front of a trial commissioner to enter a summary-offense diversionary program that will require him to take a three-hour Saturday class in July and pay a fine of $200. After Smith takes the class and pays the fee, the commissioner told him, his record will be expunged.
Smith faces a disorderly conduct charge in the bottle-throwing incident and surrendered to police to receive his citation on Monday. His photo circulated around the Internet in the days after the incident as police and Phillies fans tried to identify him.
Though the aluminum beer bottle didn't strike Howard -- it landed near his feet -- the Phillies $25 million star player who's been struggling this season was none too pleased with the incident, telling CSNPhilly, "That stuff infuriates me. You want to yell stuff, that's fine. When you start throwing stuff ... The minute it gets physical, it gets personal. That's the way I look at it."
Smith, dressed in a purple striped button-down shirt and khakis, was demure as he appeared in court along with about a dozen others facing unrelated summary offense charges.
"Am I eligible for the third option?" he asked the commissioner quietly, referring to the diversion program she detailed earlier in the hearing. "I'd like to proceed with that."
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A man and woman who appeared to be his parents accompanied Smith to court. Smith declined to speak as he left the Criminal Justice Center. The woman with him stopped momentarily to tell reporters, "Nobody knows the real story," but declined to elaborate.
"It was all lies on the TV," she said.
Smith is set to take his diversion class in early July.
