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Just a month after two bills were introduced in the State Senate to deal with threats and assaults on sports officials, an incident at the state high school wrestling tournament demonstrated their urgency, a leading sports administrator said.
During Friday’s Texaco/HHSAA Wrestling State Championships, a Leilehua wrestler was arrested after allegedly threatening a referee and grabbing his shirt, then pushing down a security guard, according to witnesses.
Chris Chun, executive director of the HHSAA, said he witnessed the incident at Blaisdell Arena, which inspired him to immediately begin writing testimony in support of SB 2612, which is scheduled to be heard by the Committee on Judiciary this morning.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani Mauka, Wahiawa), establishes the offenses of assault against a sports official in the first, second and third degrees and the offense of terroristic threatening against a sports official.
Another measure, Senate bill 2549, introduced by Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi, Pearl Harbor), establishes assault of a sports official as a result of their performance of duty at a sports event as assault in the second degree, a class “c” felony.
In his testimony, Chun wrote, “This incident left the official as well as his counterparts visibly shaken.”
Chun added, “There is a nationwide decrease in people willing to officiate contests due to unruly spectators and fans. Officials have increasingly faced threats and bodily injury performing their responsibilities. This is the number one reason why new officials choose not to return after their first season. In fact, I am writing this from the HHSAA state wrestling tournament, where an official was assaulted.”
While as many as 24 states have some form of assault legislation, civil statutes or supportive resolutions aimed at protecting sports officials, according to the National Association of Sports Officials, Hawaii is not among them.
Bills that would have stiffened penalties in Hawaii have been introduced in the Legislature on and off for at least 15 years without passage.
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