A Dad Has Been Charged With Assault After DESTROYING a Middle School Basketball Ref During a Game

Seattle Times — A Kenmore man is accused of storming the court during his son’s basketball game at Kenmore Middle School two weeks ago and slamming into a referee from behind, breaking the man’s nose and cheekbone on the hardwood, according to King County prosecutors. 

Mark McLaughlin, 31, turned himself in to King County sheriff’s deputies on Dec. 17, the day after the game, and was released from jail on Dec. 22 after posting $20,000 bail, court records show. He was charged Dec. 21 with second-degree assault.

When I first watched this video and saw one of the officials put a kid on the ground, I thought I might end up being on Mark McLaughlin's side for defending his son. But he ended up seeing a little too much red, because he sent the wrong ref flying across the court. A different guy wearing a striped shirt happened to get in front of the official who McLaughlin was actually going after and ended up being on the business end of a grown man coming down the tracks at full-speed.

Everyone here was in the wrong except the ref who ended up on his ass. The kid who tried to gouge an opponent's eyes out as the game was ending sucks. His father is obviously an insane person. The ref who put his hands on that kid hard enough that he went to the floor is obviously not without blame, either. And the one guy who ends up getting the worst of it is the 72-year-old who didn't do anything.

You may find this hard to believe, but McLaughlin reportedly left the University of Washington basketball program after a fight with another player.

McLaughlin is a former standout player at Central Washington University, averaging 22.4 points per game in the 2012-13 season, according to the school’s men’s basketball roster. He landed at CWU in Ellensburg after attending nine schools in six years, including Seattle University and the University of Washington.

McLaughlin’s tenure with the Huskies only lasted four months in 2012 before the school announced he was “pursuing other opportunities.” 

While then-UW coach Lorenzo Romar declined discussing the circumstances surrounding McLaughlin’s abrupt departure, multiple sources told The Seattle Times in 2013 he left the team after an on-court altercation with a UW player during a summer pickup game. The heated exchange resulted in punches being thrown.

NINE schools in six years?! I can't believe that guy found himself at the center of a situation like this. Who could have possibly seen this coming?

Let's all just calm down at the middle school basketball games, folks.