Bad parents are a problem in every sport and that was evident when one Florida father was arrested after deputies said he punched an umpire during a high school baseball game last month.
In mid-April, Osceola County deputies said they responded to Liberty High School in Kissimmee for a disturbance.
One parent of the players was upset that an umpire told his child to calm down. Deputies said the father, later identified as Jorge Aponte Gonzalez, punched the 63-year-old umpire in the back of the head.
Aponte Gonzales is facing charges of battery on a sports official and disruption of a school function.
Video released appears to show Jorge Aponte Gonzalez walking up to the umpire, who was standing near a gate, and knocking him to the ground.
The moment went down as umpire Ray Mora walked to a gate as he awaited his replacement. As his back was turned, Gonzalez left the stands and punched the 63-year-old Army veteran.
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After the punch, several people on the field can be seen running to Mora’s side as others attempt to usher Gonzalez away from the field.
“That individual was not even facing me,” Mora told FOX 35 News. “At least the people who I faced when I was in combat, I saw them. I saw them in the distance. I knew they were coming. I was not even prepared.”
“It needs to stop because I just got hit,” Mora said. “Maybe tomorrow somebody gets killed, then what?”
“He does this because he has passion for baseball, and he likes to give back to his community and he loves to dedicate his time to baseball and to kids,” Sheriff Marcos Lopez said of Mora.
Gonzalez is facing a felony battery charge.
