Malden Police arrest Mattapan Pop Warner coach after alleged assault on referee

Coach due back in court Nov. 9 after arraignment in Malden District Court on charge of assault of senior citizen

  A Pop Warner Football referee who was allegedly knocked down in pain after being assaulted by a Mattapan coach on Sunday said he is fed up with such behavior in an online report, adding, “I hope he goes to jail.” A Mattapan Pop Warner Football coach was arrested by Malden Police at Macdonald Stadium on Sunday after he allegedly assaulted referee Thomas Abruzzese, 66, near the end of a U-14 game. Dana Jones, 50, of Roslindale, was arraigned on a single charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person over the age of 60 in Malden District Court. After pleading “not guilty,” he was released on his own recognizance until a pretrial conference on November 9.

  The report of the alleged assault has since been reported nationally on various news outlets.

  This is the first time in recent memory where an arrest has been made of a coach at a sporting event in Malden for any reason. According to general reports, however, there has been a definite uptick in negative and confrontational behavior by coaches and players toward game officials – in all sports – in recent years; on some occasions, though infrequently, there have been some instances of violence in these negative interactions.

  Jones was a coach of the Mattapan Patriots in a game against the Malden Pop Warner Cyclones U-14 team on Sunday afternoon. According to police, toward the end of the game Abruzzese, who has been officiating Pop Warner youth football and other levels for 25 years, threw a penalty flag against a Mattapan player for a helmet-to-helmet hit, a 15-year personal foul infraction. Then, according to police reports, a number of Mattapan coaches began “screaming obscenities,” according to the referees (three were officiating at the time). When Abruzzese turned around, he was “blindsided” and hit in the chest by a ball thrown hard by the coach, Jones.

  According to police, Abruzzese said the football Jones threw at him hit him in the center of his chest and the impact “caused him to kneel over from the pain.” According to reports, two other referees said they saw the coach throw the football hard at Abruzzese and hit him in the chest. A third referee told police that he didn’t see the throw, but saw the football hit off Abruzzese before he fell down to the ground.

  In the Malden police report, the coach apparently believed the “ref was making bad calls” and the “other team was cheating,” causing him to become upset.