A Little League coach in Roseville, Calif., is suing a 14-year-old player over his game-winning celebration.
Former Lakeside Little League coach Alan Beck says he was seriously injured when a player tossed his helmet in the air as he crossed home plate to score the deciding run last April; the helmet allegedly struck the coach in the lower leg, severing his Achilles tendon. Now the coach seeks $500,000 for negligence from the boy's family, TV station KCRA reported.
"I turned around and looked and there was a helmet laying on the ground and this young man that hit me was looking at me, stunned,” Beck recalled of the incident to Fox 40.
The boy's father, Joe Paris, told KCRA the suit was off-base. A legal expert explained to the station that as long as the boy didn't deliberately harm Beck, the lawsuit would perhaps strike out because baseball is a contact sport that normally subjects players and coaches to flying bats, balls and helmets. (As Yahoo pointed out, even Little League itself shows kids throwing equipment after a victory in a promo video.)
Beck told Fox 40 that all he really wanted was $20,000 to cover expenses and that his attorney put down the $500,000 figure.
When contacted by The Huffington Post, the national Little League office said it could not comment on pending litigation.