Ohio prosecutor wants teen tried as adult for referee assault

DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio county prosecutor wants a 17-year-old boy charged as an adult for head-butting a football referee and causing a concussion.

The Dayton Daily News reports Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. filed a motion Wednesday to have the Dayton Dunbar High School student’s juvenile felonious assault charge transferred to adult court.

Authorities say the helmeted teen head-butted referee Scott Bistrek during the second quarter of Dunbar’s game against Cincinnati Roger Bacon on Aug. 31.

Bistrek recently testified before the Ohio Senate, which is considering a bill to make an assault on a sports official a felony. Bistrek said he was assaulted after calling a penalty on the teen for pushing an opponent after the whistle had blown.

Heck called the assault “sickening.”

USA Today reports the game was called after the incident occurred in the first half, giving the opposing team Roger Bacon High School (Cincinnati) the win.

“The penalty that made the kid mad was their 12th penalty already,” Roger Bacon coach Mike Blaut told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “They were marking off the ball, half the distance to the goal line, and that’s when he went right after the referee and head-butted him. He hit him on the right side of his head.”