A rec league softball player in New York State has died after being punched in the back of the head by an opposing player.
The ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE reports that 37-year-old Daniel Andrews died on Monday from injuries suffered on Sunday, when he was struck in the back of the head during post-game handshakes.
(L: victim Daniel Andrews; R: suspect Sean Sanders)
Reports say that 27-year-old Sean Sanders punched Andrews in the head with a closed fist, then took off running. Hours later, police had located & arrested Sanders, charging him with assault & jailing him without bail.
Andrews was brought to a local hospital, then transferred to another hospital when his head injuries were revealed to be much more severe. He was put on life support but passed away on Monday.
As the ASSOCIATED PRESS learns, Sanders already has a violent past, having served four years in prison for second-degree assault:
He was arrested in the Rochester suburb of Greece in November 2002 for hitting a man “numerous times about the body with a golf club,” state Division of Parole spokeswoman Carole Weaver said Tuesday. In pleading guilty, Sanders maintained he was intoxicated and had come to the aid of a friend who was attacked by “numerous other individuals,” Weaver said.
Reports say that there was on-going trash talk between the two teams on Sunday. But, really, is rec league softball worth getting so worked up about that you end up killing a guy?
Sadly, it’s not the first time we’ve seen such behavior end in tragedy.
7:58 pm on July 1st, 2008
A friend of mine had teammates there. They said that the piece of garbage hit him in the back of the head with a bat.
I’ve played slowpitch for many years, and of course monsters like this are the exception, but they are out there. At least once per summer I see somebody completely fly off the handle and have to be physically removed from the park. It’s embarrassing and scary.
I actually have taken this year off, because I don’t want to subject my family to the garbage that takes place at softball parks. There is too much over the top language and disrespect. Lighten up America. It’s a recreational sport like skiing or bowling. Go and have fun and respect your fellow man. Nobody deserves to be killed, and to take a life over something so trivial as a softball game baffles me beyond belief. Where did the respect for fellow human beings and their lives go?